Story 09: Gundam Wing Children of the Gundam
by Turles
Summary: The year is AC 215 and several members of Preventer have children who will soon face a challenge greater than what High School could ever throw at them. (Its Finished now)
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, G-Gundam, any movies or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

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Mobile Suit Gundam Wing:

Children of the Gundam

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Prologue

*

It really had been 15 years since that time when the Preventers had returned to their own universe. Returned from the 16th Gundam Fight and their partnership with the Shuffle Alliance. For many of them looking back on such events seems like a different world. Times had changed for the Preventers in more ways than one. Several members of Preventer had children.

One couple was Heero Yuy and Relena Peacecraft Dorlin. Shortly after Relena had announced that she was pregnant it was decided that they should marry. Heero didn't object since he did love Relena. Though it was an odd feeling to him nonetheless. 

At the wedding of Heero and Relena, old enemies met once again. Heero and Miliardo Peacecraft met together and discussed Relena. Miliardo didn't speak to Heero in a threatening way as if they were fighting once again; he did it in a more earnest tone. 

"Take care of my sister, Heero." He told the Perfect Soldier.

"I will" Heero answered. "Nothing shall harm her or my child."

None of the other Peacecraft family members objected to this marriage. As a matter of fact many of them were wondering when they'd get to it. They all knew how much Heero cared for Relena, but he just needed a shove in the right direction to tell her so. And so Heero and Relena were husband and wife. Then just over 8 months later, their child was born. A healthy baby girl that they named Hikaru Peacecraft Yuy. After a while, despite Relena's disapproval, Heero had taught Hikaru how to be tough and to fight like he did. Though they tried to keep it as their little secret. 

Before all the pregnancies and births, it was asked whether it was safe to deliver children since many women had died in childbirth in space. Though times had changed since then, technologies were better, plus it was decided for an extra precaution that they would give birth on Earth, in the Sank Kingdom. So that's how it went.

Another couple that unexpectedly got married was Duo Maxwell and Hilde Schbiker. Many in Preventer thought that there was something going on between Duo and Alexandria, but apparently there wasn't since Duo chose Hilde. So, it was then that Duo and Hilde finally got themselves together and two years later their son was born. And his name was William Maxwell. 

Then there was Miliardo Peacecraft and Lucrezia Noin. Those two wasted little to no time in getting together. Though there was a small issue about their names. In the case of Miliardo, it was a tough decision to either be permanently called Miliardo Peacecraft or Zechs Marquise. After a great amount of debate with himself he finally decided to be named Zechs Marquise. On the other side there was the issue of Lucrezia Noin. Everyone who knew her was used to calling her Noin or Miss Noin. So, that it would be confusing. 

That was when Miss Noin decided that she would add the name Marquise to her own name. Thus she was married and soon named Lucrezia Noin Marquise. After what was like a royal wedding. Noin was to give birth to a son; a beautiful child that was named Paul Marquise.

Of course there was the already married Johan Peacecraft Rodriguez and his wife Haruka Tenou Rodriguez. She had told Johan that she too was pregnant and so the two of them waited with great anticipation for their child. Though during the course of the pregnancy they noticed that Haruka was much larger than the average pregnant woman was. It was during the examination that the doctor announced that they'd be the proud parents of twins. On the day of the delivery to both Johan and Haruka's surprise they found that they were parents of fraternal twins, one boy and one girl. They felt truly blessed, at least Johan did, but Haruka didn't feel the same until after the delivery was over. They had thought of names if the children were boys or girls, but since there were one of each they decided to use the best names. And thus the children were named Julia and Leto. 

They were happy as could be but there was one time when Haruka had asked something of Johan. 

"Why do we have two children?" She asked Johan 

"I thought we were going for just one." Johan answered trying to keep a straight face, "But the gene pool gave us a wild card."

"More like wild child." Haruka smirked

"Plus I think its because we didn't want three." 

Even with Johan and Haruka as officers in Preventer. They did have moments in life where either one of them had to assume the parental role for the children. Such as one day when Leto and Julia were just children, perhaps around the sixth grade, Leto had gotten into trouble. He had gotten into a fight with the schoolyard bully. Of course Julia and Leto had learned a little bit of the martial arts from the Long clan from Johan and Wufei, but Leto was the only one fighting, and he lost. He came back home on the arm of his sister who seemed to be his emotional support. He came crying to his mother and father about what happened in the schoolyard. Yet, even in his state Johan nor Haruka had ever told Leto that old male macho-ism idea of "boys don't cry", but Leto begged his father to train him even more of the Martial Arts of the Long Clan. Johan simple knelt down to look at his son eye to eye.

"Miho." Johan said in his timely acquired fatherly voice. (He called Leto "miho", which was Spanish for "my son". While Julia was called "miha", which was Spanish for "my daughter".) "There's something you must understand about Martial Arts. We don't learn it to pick fights with others. We learn it to protect and defend others. Just because you think you can beat him up doesn't give you the right to. But that doesn't mean you should run away, miho. But it does mean this, when you have great power you will have great responsibility for it. Now I don't want you fighting at school, Ok."

Leto tried to dry up his tears, "Ok." He sniffled trying to hold back more tears. 

It had taken a long time for Leto to understand that, but after he did Johan and Wufei had taught him and Julia all they knew. So by the time that they were in High School they had made tremendous progress, but they weren't close to their parents' skills, yet. 

Time had passed ever onward, the Preventers grew a little older each year and so did their children. They grew and grew, becoming as handsome and beautiful as their parents. The time had come to the year A.C. 215, and the children of the Preventers were on Earth at school while their parents were on their ship, the Preventer Ship Tabris as they patrolled between the stars keeping the colonies and the Earth safe. 


	2. High School Days

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Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, G-Gundam, any movies or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

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Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

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Mobile Suit Gundam Wing:

Children of the Gundam

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Chapter 1: High School Days

*

DING-DONG!

The bell for the school rang as the kids walked across the parking lots, cement walkways and grassy patches to get to class. The sky above was blue, with very few white clouds, and the sun was so warm as it beat its rays down on upon the Earth. The students of Sandrock High poured out of the school as the lunch hour began. The school itself was designed in such a way that each room would have at least one window. In other words, it was designed somewhat like an odd shaped hollowed out circle. In the center of the circle was the eating area, and this is where a very special group of children sat to have their lunch. 

There were five teenagers that were situated around a very prestigious table. At least it was prestigious because of who sat there. These were a group of teens that were made out to be special by how the rest of the students viewed them. They were more popular than the football stars and more likeable than the cheerleaders. And it wasn't because of what they did; it was because of who they were. 

"Hey, William!" Hikaru called out from the prestigious table, and William came to meet up with his old friends.

William Maxwell, age 13, came up to the table still wearing his favorite outfit, which was much like what his father would wear. A priest collar shirt, tight pleather (or sometimes leather pants), and a light white long coat. He really did take after his father, Duo Maxwell, in that respect. Plus the school did have some qualms about William wearing such a thing. But since the school had no dress code it really didn't matter that much, it was only a big deal because the staff made it out to be. Even his friends sometimes gave him a hard time about it.

"Why are you wearing that, Will?" Hikaru asked, "Its such a nice day today."

"Hey, you wear what you like and I'll wear what I like." William smiled as he sat down at the table making the most popular kids in school a group of five. 

"Ok, Will." Hikaru smiled. That was Hikaru Peacecraft Yuy, age 15, one of the two girls in the group. She had the hair color of her father that was the shade of maple wood. Her eyes were a combination of both her mother and her father, a medium blue, the kind that wasn't too bright or too dark, just a cool shade of blue. Hikaru's personality was more of an extrovert than her mother and certainly more so than her father. She had a special way to make her presence known even if she doesn't say a word. A regular party kind of girl she was, especially with the skimpy clothes that she wears. She would wear jeans that bordered between the loose fit and tight fit. It was just enough to accent her curves. And for warm days like the one that day, she wore a tight top that left little to the imagination of the shapes of her body.

"She's right." Paul said, "It's a very nice day today to wear pleather." 

Paul Marquise sat next to Hikaru in a very calm way; he always sat still in any kind of situation. Then again Paul was very mature in his attitude at the age of 13. He was extraordinarily handsome as well with his short silvery blonde hair that shined with the highlights of the sun. When he looks at anyone with his deep blue eyes he has a gaze as if he was staring into the soul.

"Oh, leave him be." Julia pleaded, "No one's saying anything about how you dress."

Julia Peacecraft Rodriguez, the other woman of the small cadre, she was also one of the fraternal twins, her other was her brother, Leto Peacecraft Rodriguez who sat next to her. Though Leto didn't pay too much attention to the argument at hand. He was too busy daydreaming and enjoying the day. The two of them were very similar in looks with their black hair and blue-green eyes.

"Don't knock my clothes." William refuted, "I am the Crow."

The Crow was a nickname that William inherited. Like their parents before them, these Children of Gundam pilots had their own nicknames. William inherited his nickname from the shinny black hair that he had. It was such a shade and texture of black that it looked like the feathers of a crow, despite the ponytail that he had, which was braided just like his fathers. 

Hikaru on the other hand had the nickname of Firebird. The reason was on several levels. Sometimes her maple colored hair would give off highlights of red like a fiery crown. She also loved to fly, as long as it brought her away from the ground she would do it. 

Then there was Paul Marquise; who was called the Lightning Prince, since his father was called the Lightning Count; the name seemed the most appropriate. Along with the name, Paul seemed to have extra quick responses. He even once got into a small high stakes slapping game. The stakes were 1,000 dollars against a kid who was said to be the slapping game champion. Until he met Paul, he had such a calm cool attitude that it was hard to tell what his next move would be. That was when Paul Marquise won the game, gained 1,000 dollars (despite his parents disapproval) and lived up to the name of Lightning Prince.

Last of all were the twins, Julia and Leto. Julia was called Star Arrow by her father, because as a child Julia would run. It didn't matter where it was, as long as it was an open space with no obstacles. She would run, run, and run until she was exhausted, then she would like in her parents' arms and then sleep. Sometimes her mother would chase her and other times her father would chase her. Yet, a good number of times Julia was so fast that neither one could catch her. It was because of this ability that Julia was also on the high school track team. The team had won several championships, as a matter of fact Julia set a new record of 9.5 seconds on the 100-meter dash and no one has been able to catch her.

Her brother on the other hand didn't use speed. Instead he used his wits. As a child Leto was a master of hide and seek, and it wasn't a gift that he lost as he got older. Sometimes he'd hide in the most unusual places. He even managed to hide himself in the air vent above his math teachers' office to get the answers for the next test. Thus Leto earned his name of Star Fox. 

This was the most popular group of teens in the school, the Children of the Gundams. Everyone in school loved them, at least the students did, but the faculty was another matter. The teachers loved most of them, though Leto Rodriguez and William Maxwell weren't the best of students. It did require a few Parent Teacher Meetings to get some motivation in those two, but even that wasn't quite enough.

As the "Preventer Teens" (as the school calls them) laughed, talked about classes, and so on they heard a very annoying and familiar voice call out; 

"Hi!"

They looked and found a young freshman about thirteen, with oversized coke-bottle thick glasses. They were at such a thickness that they actually distorted the view of his unusually honey-brown eyes. They made his eyes even bigger than what they actually were. His walk was goofy as if his back was a stiff board and his legs were trying to compensate for it. His head was at a crooked angle as if his neck-bones didn't know what straight was. In the crook of his left arm was a messy stack of papers, notepads, and vanilla folders. This was Mervin. 

The Preventer Teens all made their own grown as Mervin came closer. One thing that has to be made clear is that they didn't have an aversion to Mervin because of his looks. On the contrary, they had a strong aversion to his demeanor. 

"Hey!" Mervin called again as he rudely took his seat; he also had a very odd high-pitched voice that made him unusually non-masculine. "I got some new ideas for mobile suit designs! I even got some cool-cool ideas for a new gun!"

William gave a very noticeable grown. William always found Mervin annoying because nearly everyday he would come to them with these ideas that annoyed him. It was pretty apparent that Mervin wanted to be in Preventer but lacked quite a lot to get in. So, he would compensate for it by trying to improve upon things that were already great in the first place, thinking that his ideas were more perfect. 

"Mervin." William said in a slightly vicious grown, "We told you already. Preventer is fine, it doesn't need anything new."

"Oh please, please, just one?" Mervin asking playing his own kind of guilt trip. He did it in such a way that everyone felt somewhat guilty and the only way to be rid of it was to sit through one of Mervin's ideas. Of course everyone was too polite to say "no" directly.

After hearing Mervin's idea of some type of ray gun that seemed so unrealistic that no one at that table could ever see it being built, the bell for the last period of the day rang.

"Thank God." William whispered to himself

The Preventer Teens were about to split up to their separate classes, but there were five minutes before class actually started. So, there was something of great importance (from their point of view) that needed to be discussed.

"Hey." Hikaru stopped her friends, "Have any of you found dates for the prom?"

No one answered.

Hikaru stepped across the lunch yard as everyone was heading to class, "You better act quick." She smiled and said playfully, "Prom is only a week away."

As Hikaru made her way to class leaving the others behind, the one who had to have the last word was William.

"Does she have to be so belligerent about it?" He asked

Julia and Leto only shrugged while Paul said nothing. 

* * *

Preventer Report:

Officer: Trowa Barton

Code-name: The Silencer

Date: April 19, A.C. 215

Report: Preventer has received reports from our scouts Lucrezia Noin Marquise, Sally Po, and Hilde Maxwell. There have been trace amounts of metallic fragments found in a small asteroid field between the outer colonies and Mars. These fragments have been established as man-made, these fragments have been identified as titanium, Gundanium, and one metal compound that's as of yet unidentified. 

* * *

William Maxwell spent the next period (biology) staring into space. Then again William wasn't that terribly interested in biology. At least until the part that discusses sex, it's about the best excuse to look at pictures of naked women without trying to get a copy of Playboy. The rest of the time he would simply stare vacantly. 

Except that time, he started to look at the other girls in the class. He did need a date for prom; question was which girl would like to go with The Crow? True, William and his friends were popular; but then again popularity isn't all that its cracked up to be. Everything that's done is watched and talked about by the school. It was a situation that's like being blacklisted you had to be careful of what you said otherwise your scorned for the rest of your high school life. For William though, he always had a knack for making a smart-ass remark at something. 

"Mr. Maxwell." The teacher called

William snapped out of his trance and looked up at the teacher who then asked the question.

"Mr. Maxwell, would you mind telling us who came up with the idea of reproducing asexually?"

William had heard the teacher talk about asexually in which creatures at a simpler level could reproduce without having sex. He thought that would be a boring life to lead, no pleasure involved. Yet, William saw a great opportunity, he looked at the teacher who was begging to be made fun of. With his non-matching suit, slightly balding head and this attitude that kids are dumb. William then smiled up at the teacher and gave his answer;

"I don't know." He said half-laughing, "Your wife?" 

The whole class started to laugh at this remark, as the teachers' face began to flush with embarrassment mixing with frustration like a cocktail drink. After class was over, William had finally set his sights upon one particular girl that caught his eye. She was a relatively short girl compared to William's height but she was very curvy. She would usually wear these skimpy clothes that were on the same par as Hikaru Yuy in how her clothes would hug her body and accent her curves. This girl's name was Lindsay Bradner; William had seen this girl around before and always had fantasies about her in the back of his mind. If it was time for anything it had to be that moment that William took, he seized the opportunity. He walked up to Lindsay and called out to her, but his voice was silent as he called. He cleared his throat, and that got the attention of Lindsay who spun around to look at William.

"Oh, William. Hi." She said (everyone in school knew the Preventer Teens names), she looked at him with her stormy gray eyes. God, she was cute to William with her cute face that begged to be kissed as well as (William's favorite feature) her raven black hair that flowed like fine silk down to her shoulders. 

"Hi, Lindsay." William smiled, but then thought quietly, _damn, why am I so nervous?_ At last he had to get this out of his gut or there would be no glory, "Do you have a date for the prom?" His heart was racing like mad, if it were going any faster it would have died from exhaustion. 

Lindsay seemed to squirm a little bit from William's question; she giggled and then said, "No." Her face began to turn slightly red, "Are you asking me to it?"

William saw victory, "Is it that obvious?"

"Yes." Lindsay smiled and blushed another shade of red, "I'll go with you." 

"Ok then." William winked and then walked off saying to her, "I can't wait to see what you look like in a dress."

Even if William didn't see it, Lindsay's face had turned another two shades of red as he walked off. 

* * *

In another part of the school, Hikaru was hard at work on one of her metal projects. The metals room was a large garage like environment with concrete floors, brick walls, the ventilation ducts coming overhead, and the heat mixed with the grit of working with metal. This is where Hikaru's next period was, manufacturing or Metal Shop. This was the place that Hikaru did work the best. Then again, most of the kids in that class didn't do very much, when anything new came out of the foundry they loved to spit on the cooling metal to see how it would sizzle. Hikaru and a few others were the only serious workers. The rest were just there for easy A's. The thing that Hikaru was working on was a shield, a very medieval type of shield. As soon as the shield was done she would paint the colors of the Peacecraft family upon it. Then add in a few rivets and a leather strap and it could probably be combat ready. 

Hikaru was sanding down the edge of the shield and smoothing it out. She watched it from behind the protective visor but still wore her skimpy clothes that showed off how much she was sweating from the heat that the foundry was producing. As she worked the shield, her mind multitasked, one part of her mind was concentrating on how much pressure to put on the shield while the other half was concerned with who to ask to the prom. She thought about the guys in her class and thought that they wouldn't worth her time since they always goof-off in the first place. So, who would be worth it to ask and that was when Hikaru thought about a guy that was in the metals class. 

He was one of the working types; he always was working on something. His specialty of the class was making metal boxes, the kind that can be used for anything. Storing lunches, maybe light tools, or even baseball cards. He always made something, but the strange thing was that he would always give it away to someone else. He was always generous in that respect. Once he made a small foundry piece and only turned around and gave it to one of the teachers. He was this relatively tall boy, tanned skin and very dark hair that could easily pass for black if it didn't give off subtle highlights of brown from the fluorescent lights and his name was Joe Marsten. 

She felt the shield start to slip out of her hands but then she brought herself back to reality and gave the shield a good grip as she finished the job. She then set the shield down and looked for the one she wanted to ask the question.

She walked over and found Joe working with a welder, sending out sparks from his weld coupled with blue light. He watched it all carefully from behind his welding mask. Hikaru came up from behind him wearing her protective goggles from the bright blue light of the welding process. Unlike her friends she didn't exactly have any fear about asking anyone out. Either she was confident that she would get someone eventually or she didn't care if she did get one at all. 

Joe had finished his weld and took off his mask to reveal part of his handsome face. He looked over the weld he did for a moment, looked up and then smiled. His teeth were in such perfect shape that Hikaru could have used them for a mirror at close range. She came up to Joe and tried to say above the noise that was going on from the loud foundry. 

"Joe, will you go to the prom with me?" She asked bringing herself close to his ear

Joe didn't answer he only did one simple gesture. He brought up his hand into a thumb up position.

Hikaru's heart soared as she threw her arms around Joe and the class started to cheer for her either mockingly or genuinely. She couldn't tell the difference; then again she didn't care because she had the one that she wanted and that was all that mattered to her. 

* * *

Paul Marquise stood at his easel, with his painting palette in his left hand and his brush carefully adding the finishing touches to his painting. Of course this was an art class for Paul, though this was something of a different painting class, to be more specific it was an oils and acrylics class. It was the place where the use of real paints that artists use is at its best. It was something that Paul exceeded at; it seemed, for some unknown reason, he was just a natural born artist. It all started when he came into the drawing class; he didn't even need the class since he already knew how to draw realistically with shading the right places. So he kept going through the classes until he got himself into the most advanced classes that were available. 

Then again, he didn't need a lot of teaching in the use of oils either. He just painted away with whatever was in his mind. The students around him though, the ones that were there to learn how to paint, learned from his own work and tried to incorporate that into theirs. The men liked him in that class and the women adored him. Perhaps he inherited the "lady killer" gene from his father. Though Paul wasn't interested at the time because he was still trying to get the landscape he had in his mind just right. 

He then placed the last touches on it, placed his monogram at the bottom, set his brush and palette down. 

"I'm finished." He said to himself as he took off his art clothes and set the easel into the drying area for it. He looked at it and marveled at the colors he used. As he was about to hang up his art clothes a very familiar face soon confronted him. It was the face of Rei Miyazaki, a fellow painter. Rei was a young girl, perhaps a little younger than Paul, but she had short brownish-red hair that came down to the top of her neck. She looked up at Paul with yearning green eyes. 

"P…Paul." She stammered a little bit, "can I…I ask you…s...something?"

"Yes." Paul answered innocently

"Would you go to prom with me?" She asked then looked down at her red plastic shoes that her mother bought her at a cheap price. 

Paul did think about asking someone to prom, but he couldn't figure out whom. So, Rei seemed to fix that problem right away. Though he did seem to have some doubts about saying yes to this little girl since she was younger than he was. It seemed to be a small stigma in high school that you're only supposed to date people in your own class. Seniors date seniors, freshman date freshman sort of thing, but sometimes seniors and freshman date from time to time. Yet, the stigma remains. Even with the stigma Paul couldn't ignore certain things, such as how cute the little girl was when she asked him in such an innocent way as if she thought that she wouldn't succeed either way. Which may be why she was looking down at her shoes, to accept her failure either gracefully or running out of the class crying. Paul couldn't refuse such a cute face. 

He knelt down in front of her, knowing that the whole class would be watching. He looked up at Rain who was still looking down. The two had made eye contact as Paul was on his bent knee. 

"Rei Miyazaki." He said softly, "I'd be honored to."

Tears were welting up in Rei's eyes as she threw her arms around his neck, "Oh thank you, Paul."

Paul placed a hand on Rei's back knowing that he had just made the girls' day and perhaps a day that she would remember for the rest of her life. 

* * *

In another part of the school, in the music room several students were practicing their instruments as part of their music class. Some students had decided to study woodwinds, others decided to do the piano, and a few students decided to try the string instruments. One of those students was Julia Peacecraft Rodriguez. She had her violin in hand and was playing it beautifully like some kind of Greek nymph that would seduce travelers on the road with her music. She was absolutely amazing when she played the violin, even though the violin is a beautiful instrument to listen to; it's also a terrible instrument to learn. The reason is when first learning it every note that's made on it sounds terrible. 

For Leto Peacecraft Rodriguez, the instrument that he played was the Spanish guitar. The reason for him choosing that instrument was because of an ancient foreign film that his father once showed him. The movie was called, "El Mariachi", about a young boy who wanted to be a Mariachi player, but then got confused for a gunman who had a guitar case full of guns. Leto loved the idea of concealing weapons in such an innocent looking case. At the same time he loved the sound of the Spanish guitar as well as the sound of the lyrics that the singer would make. So, at the age of 9, Leto picked up the Spanish guitar, he played it, and played, and played. Until he got to High School where he was good enough that he even thought of himself as a Mariachi player. 

"Chicks dig a guy who plays a guitar." He once said to his sister

"Let's see if it works." Julia smiled at the idea

As Julia practiced on her violin, Leto was setting his sights. He looked across the room to a young blonde girl who was playing the flute. The fluttery notes drifted across the room to Leto's ears. The girl's name was Megan Mears, one of the cheerleaders on the High School's Varsity team. In Leto's mind probably the most attractive woman in the whole squad. He wanted to go with her to the prom, though he always heard that she was a tough girl to get. Still, Leto thought, _I'm one of the Preventer Teens and I'm a guitar player. What woman could resist me?_ So, Leto picked up his guitar and walked across the classroom, past the ones learning piano, cello, violin, woodwinds, and to his goal, Megan.

Megan caught sight of Leto coming toward her and she set down her flute and wiped her lips with the handkerchief that she had on hand. 

"Hi, Leto." She said smiling like nearly every cheerleader did.

"Megan, would you go to the prom with me?" Leto said holding his guitar as if he was about to play it. He probably only did that for showing off. 

Megan looked up at Leto, but at the same time she looked and saw that several eyes of her classmates were looking at her. She knew that if she turned down a Preventer Teen, she'd have to do a hell of a lot of explaining to the cheerleading squad of why she turned down on of the most popular kids in school. Then again, she had nothing to fear, she had no one to go with and she always wanted Leto (in a very fantasy sort way).

"I will." She said winking at him. 

"Score." Leto smirked to himself as he went back to his seat next to Julia. Still holding onto his guitar as if he was about to play it, he leaned over to Julia and said, "Told you, chicks dig a guitar player."

"Sure." Julia said feigning her sincerity. Leto had always been like that ever since his puberty hormones kicked in. He was a womanizer at the very least, his room back home had wall to wall posters of women from Sport Illustrated Swimsuit editions, Music Stars, and a few Playboy models that he was able to sneak in. 

Julia on the other hand was a pure romantic, she believed in love at its purest form. Though most of the men in the High School were just interested in sex. Julia was only interested in love, the unusual queasy feeling in the pit of the stomach, sweaty palms, and the swimmy feeling in her head. She wanted to feel that and she wanted to have the feeling of knowing that a member of the opposite sex loved her. Not the kind of love that her parents gave her, the kind of love two people can share, that is what she wanted. It wasn't a huge leap of the imagination to know why some women go after older men. They mature faster and most older men are more mature than the high school boys, thus the reason for it. Though according to the feminist teachers that Julia had, most men never reach mental maturity beyond the age of 10. So, Julia was stuck as the only one of the Preventer teens without a prom date and her song fell sad as she continued to play the violin. 

* * *

Far away between the outmost colonies and the recently colonized red planet Mars there lay a relatively small asteroid field. There were small ones that ranged from sizes of pebbles, roasted hams, and Volkswagen Beatles. Then there were the bigger ones that could have been the size of Mount Everest if it had been an asteroid. All of these drifted aimlessly through space perhaps impacting a far away world and bringing life to it, while others would just drift further into the blackest unknown of space. 

This was where the Silencers were based.

In one of the asteroids, the one that was about the size of the city of Los Angeles, it didn't seem to drift or spin in meaningless directions. This one seemed to stay stationary without moving just staying perfectly still like a rogue moon. Inside the asteroid was a complex, like a small base, tens of rooms and several decks. It was here that a small meeting of the darkest sort was beginning. 

In a small darkly light room there were twelve men gathering around a round table. The table was wooden instead of the standard steel. Its maple color reflected in the multiple overhead lamps that were hanging above them as if they were playing a poker game. The air of smoke from cigarettes and cigars swirled like cream in coffee. The embers of there smoke burning in the dark behind the reach of the overhead lamps. Round and round the table were detailed carvings that could be seen in the light of the yellow overhead lamps. These were carvings of different animals, people, and things in one slot each around the table like a clock. Each man sat at one of these symbols and there were words…names of the carving underneath him. From the very first, it went around the table. On and on the names went in clockwise order. 

The Fire Bearer

The Eel 

The Sloth 

The Coo-coo

The Cyclops

The Squid 

The Hyena 

The Whore 

The Shackles

The Spider 

The Nexus 

The Jackal 

The meeting began as the man sitting at the symbol of the Fire Bearer blew out the smoke from his thick cigar. His voice was deep and raspy as the fiery embers died down and the smoke blew into the yellow overhead lamplight. 

"The time is drawing closer." The Fire Bearer said, "No doubt that the Preventers will be coming to find us."

"Let them come!" The Spider said, "Let them step into our trap."

"That's the idea." The Fire Bearer said, as he took another puff of his cigar and blew out the smoke as he spoke, "The Silencers will be ready for them. The Preventers…nay, the Gundam Pilots have done quite a lot of damage to us. It is time that the Alliance, Oz and Romafeller be brought back for us all."

"May the Alliance rise again." The members of the Dark Zodiac said in unison.

* * *

In another part of the asteroid, the Silencers were lying in wait for the orders from above to come through. There were only four members of the Silencers, each of them were assigned to different rooms within the asteroid. Though that didn't prevent them from speaking with one another. After all, they did have their standard issue suits that were gray shining metal with blue lining paint. Each piece of metal covered a part of their body like plates brought together by cloth. A plate covered their pecks, or in the case of one: her breasts, several plates outlines their abdominal muscles, while several others covered their legs. At their hips were twin guns, one for each hand as if they were space-age gunslingers. Still, that wasn't the end of the armor that they wore, there was still the helmet, that was domed, smooth, and had a black t-shape down its front that was its visor. Then crowning this helmet was a small antenna that was actually a targeting device that would come down over the visor. Even still there was one last piece that each of them had. Apiece simply called the jetpack. This device would give the Silencer enough levitation for a certain amount of time for a certain amount of distance. Then again, it would be enough to get to a good vantage-point over their prey. 

In each room there was one silencer. The first was the only woman of the group; her name was Angelina Lestat. She sat down upon the bed of her room, allowing her long brunet hair to flow down by the pull of the gravity that the asteroid had from its artificial generators. She looked down with her dark set of eyes waiting as she always had ever since she was brought into the group. Then again she had a special talent that was essential to the group, she was a master of disguise and seduction. That was how she got the right information for the Silencers and the Dark Zodiac. She could seduce any man that she could set her sights upon. Even though she wasn't terribly impressed by most of the men she slept with, she did it just for the job, and nothing else. 

Next to Angelina was Anton Simeonov, the human calculator of the group. He paced back and forth in his room as the millions of calculations spun and ran through his mind like a computer on overdrive. As he paced back and forth through the room in his armor while his helmet sat on his bed he pushed his glasses back up onto his face. Then he took his hand away from his glasses as they were securely set upon his face, then he brought it to his back where his other hand lay. The two hands interlaced and Anton continued to pace through his room back and forth. 

In the next room, doing his 32nd set of push-ups was Ivan Danko, his armor plates were made to form fit over his extraordinarily large muscles. He was an enormous man standing at a near six foot five inches and his muscles were bulging, there was not one once of fat on his body. Even on his 32nd set of 100 push-ups he wasn't even close to breaking a sweat. He was only doing this to pass the time until the orders would come through. His sandy blonde hair was cut very short and his broad face was very relaxed even if he did that many push-ups. 

Then there was the very last member of the Silencers, the very youngest of them all. It was Kaworu Gavrich, a boy roughly in his early to mid teen years. He wasn't like the rest of the group; he was unusual at the very least with his grayish hair, pale skin, lanky body, and red eyes. This was the philosopher of the group, even though he was trained to be a soldier. Though he wasn't exactly one to question the authority of those above him. The calm demeanor that he had could clearly be seen in the way he was lying on the bed. He was lying back fully stretched out, his hands behind his head, and the oddest feature of all was his smile. It depended on how anyone looked at it; either he was smiling because he knew a secret that no one else knew or if it was because he was genuinely happy.

Suddenly there was a click at the door, as if the automatic locks that were in place had been opened. Kaworu sat straight up on his bed, he knew that the door opened only for a few specific reasons. Kaworu had everything he needed in that room, bathroom, lights, a bed, a desk and a chair. So that door would only open for training missions and food, but he had no idea of the surprise he was going to get as the door opened. 

The door opened all the way and Kaworu's red albino eyes met those of the dark stormy eyes of his teammate, Angelina Lestat. 

"What is it?" Kaworu asked gently as his calm demeanor always was. 

Angelina smiled in a very devilish way, she then took her helmet from her side, and said as she set the helmet on her head.

"The orders have come in." She said her voice sounding robotic; "We're to move out."

To be continued… 


	3. The Silenced

****

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, G-Gundam, any movies or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

****

Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

****

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing:

Children of the Gundam

****

Chapter 2: The Silenced

*

Preventer Report:

Officer: Heero Yuy

Code-name: The Perfect Soldier

Date: April 26, A.C. 215

Report: We've discovered who has been manufacturing Gundanium, as well as Titanium and the unknown material that had been found by our operatives approximately one week ago. It has been informed to us that the organization that's manufacturing it is called "The Dark Zodiac", it consists of members that were once part of the Alliance Military, the Oz Special Forces, and the Romafeller Foundation. As far as our operatives have determined they have a group of soldiers underneath them called "The Silencers". They also have a mobile suit that is called the Gundam Sentinel. We have obtained its plans and weaknesses. We've also obtained the location of the enemies' base. We are all ready to move out as soon as the order comes in. 

* * *

On the Preventer ship Tabris, the troops were preparing themselves for battle. It was held in the same place where the meetings were always held. A great deal had changed that much in the past 15 years. All of them had gotten older, which would be seen in the features of the Gundam pilots, which had become more adult like. Though for people like Trieze and Lady Une, they had gotten a few gray hairs in time but not too many. Yet for Lady Une, Noin, and Sally Po, none of them had one wrinkle of age. All of them had aged quite gracefully. Even Hilde Maxwell had aged very gracefully with her figure growing in all the right places. The same could be said about Heero's wife Relena (who wasn't exactly part of Preventer) she had aged nicely herself as well.

Even with the age, none of the Preventers had lost their edge when it comes to Gundam piloting. There had been enemies in the past but they were pretty small and were crushed the instant the Preventers got there. It was time to discuss the strategy, which was Lady Une's job.

"We've located the enemy here." She said as the monitor showed the asteroid field. It then zoomed in and focused upon one asteroid in particular like a geologist picking up a special stone. The monitor spun the asteroid around on its axis like a dangling Christmas ornament. 

"From what our surveyors have found, there are several heat plumes coming from within the asteroid. This matches our known records of mobile suit production plants. This may explain the fragments of Titanium, Gundanium as well as the unknown material found within the proximity of the asteroid."

The picture on the monitor changed from the asteroid to show a fragment of a metal that appeared both strange and unusual. It shimmered in rainbow colors in the light of the flash when the picture was taken. Its surface colors blended with the spectrum highlight and then shifted dramatically from an off white to a pure black. It was the strangest thing any of them had ever seen.

"What is it?" Quatre asked

"We have no name for it as of now." Lady Une answered, "but we've run batteries of tests on it and discovered it has the same properties as Gundanium, but it also has more properties that do not correspond to any known metal. It is both soft and strong at the same time. Its also very light weight and can stand impacts beyond laboratory testing."

"Do you think that the enemy may have mobile suits made out of this substance?" Heero asked. 

"I do believe that they do." Lady Une answered, "but we have no time to figure out that if they do or not. Our scans show that they are mobilizing. We must act now." 

"Agreed." Trowa stated, "Our previous experiences have taught us to always be prepared for the unexpected."

"Then it's settled." Lady Une announced, "The course has been already set. Our ETA is two hours. Prepare your Gundams for combat."

"Roger." The Preventer Gundams said in unison.

"Dismissed." Lady Une stated as all the Gundams got up and left the meeting room. 

* * *

Back on Earth, the big day had finally arrived for the Preventer Teens. All of them had waited a week in the greatest anticipation for this event. It was like seeing a preview for a great movie and waiting months for it to come to the theatres. The prom was like that for all of them; they had gotten their dresses, their tuxedos, the flowers, and the dates. All that was left was to just have the greatest times that they would ever have. 

All the boys had their black and white tuxedos with a little hint of color in them. While Hikaru Peacecraft Yuy had gotten a deep red strapless dress that hugged her body at least to her hips. After that the dress flowed outward like the train of a wedding dress. She arrived much like the rest of her friends arrived. She came on the arm of her man who was dressed just like all the other men, in a black and white tuxedo with the flower on his lapel the only amount of color he wore.

Everyone had a date, William Maxwell had his, Hikaru Yuy had hers, Leto Rodriguez, and Paul Marquise had his. The only one who arrived a little late and without a date was Julia Peacecraft Rodriguez. She arrived in a purely white dress as if she herself was coming to her own wedding. Yet the dress wasn't long, frumpy or anything that could be equated with an actual wedding dress. It was something slim and simple, it was like that of a Chinese dress. It shimmered in the low light of the dance hall because of the silken fabric that was used to make it. It had a red rose embodied upon the area where the breast reached up to meet the shoulder. Its hem ran down to Julia's ankles as she walked showing off her well-developed legs from the running she did on the track team. On her wrist was a beautiful corsage that was composed of white and pink orchids. She seemed so beautiful but so sad at the same time. She was like a lone swan upon a lake without a partner. 

As she crossed the sidelines of the dance floor with all the classmates dancing, she could hear people speaking in the crowd and saying things like "Is that Julia Rodriguez? Why doesn't she have a date? A guy would have to be crazy not to ask her."

It felt somewhat comforting to Julia to know that her fans in the student body did have their concerns about her. Yet, there was a truth to why she didn't have a date to the prom. It was because she was too scared to ask anyone. It was always that fear of the person that she asked would say no, not because they already had someone, but because they just didn't want to go with her. Even though she did have this popularity on her head, she still had the insecurity of being rejected. She still hoped that someone would ask her, which was why she got that white Chinese-like dress out of her closet at home. It was one of her favorites; she knew that she had a great figure and the white dress showed it off. 

She came up to the refreshment table to get a small drink for herself when an instantly familiar voice spoke to her.

"Julia." 

She turned and found her brother Leto standing there with his date Megan Mears who was dressed in a very short skimpy red dress. 

"You don't have a date?" Leto asked, not sounding sarcastic or boasting but more concerned.

Julia shook her head.

"That's a crime." Megan stepped up to Julia and took her hands into hers as if comforting her in the way one woman does to another. "I've seen how men look at you and I think that any man who is not smart enough to try to come to you should be smacked."

Julia was very flattered, "Thank you." She said as she took her hands away from Megan's, "But I'm sure I'll be fine." She tried to smile but it seemed painful to do it, like trying to laugh with a stomachache. 

"You sure?" Leto asked

"You two go ahead." Julia waved her hand as if she was shooing away Leto and Megan to the dance floor. "Have fun you two."

Leto and Megan left Julia and went to the dance floor, but Leto kept looking over his shoulder to see if Julia was truly all right. It took Megan's persuasive hands to bring his attention back to her as the two began to dance. 

* * *

Back in space, on the Preventer Tabris inside the Mobile suit bay, the Gundam pilots were getting ready. Each of them tending to their Gundams as if they were racers tending to their cars before the big race. Yet among a few of them they had their doubts about this mission. It was like crossing a bridge that looks sturdy yet only a certain kind of person could feel that there was something very wrong with it. Needless to say, most of the Gundams felt this, but only a good few of them couldn't get it out of their conscious minds. The few of them were Heero, Wufei and Johan. They came together as if they were magnetized and spoke to each other about the risks that they felt were involved in this mission.

"There's something fishy about this." Wufei said

"I know." Johan agreed, "I feel it too. Call me paranoid but I have a good feeling that unknown metal will be our downfall."

"It does feel suspicious." Heero added, "It just feels too convenient that they should be mobilizing just right after we discover the metal fragments around that asteroid belt."

"That's just it." Johan intersected, "This whole thing feels like one huge trap, but the best way to avoid a trap is to acknowledge that it is. Once we know that there might be a way to get out of it."

There was silence for a moment but Wufei added his counter point, "Aren't we being a little over-speculative? We have no evidence to back up our suspicions. We are only linking coincidences to the current situation and coupling it with paranoia."

"That may be." Johan acknowledged, "But I can't ignore my instincts and they're telling me that a storm is coming over the horizon. And this may be one storm we may not come back from." 

After what seemed to be only a moment's silence, Lady Une's voice came over the PA system. "Gundam's Scramble. We have arrived at the enemies' base and the enemy is deploying mobile suits. Repeat! Gundams Scramble!"

The speculative discussion between the Star Dragon, the Solitary Dragon, and the Perfect Soldier was put aside when the order came through. All of the pilots got to their Gundams. Though they didn't use the regular cockpit system, since their trip back from the Future Century Universe where the Gundam Fight was held they decided to use the Mobile Trace System regularly. Despite the feedback of pain from the MTS, they felt that they could use the suit to its fullest potential by using that particular system. Since they were fighting in space they designed the cockpit system so that in extreme emergencies the core lander could be used as an escape pod. With the mobile trace system activated and everything within the green, the Preventer Gundams launched. 

All of them came to the battlefield in space, surrounded by the asteroid field, leaving the Preventer ship Tabris far behind, and watching the target asteroid start to deploy mobile suits. All of them came out in swarms like bees coming out of a hive that had been disturbed. None of the Gundams had fear, at least until they saw them. 

They saw the suits that they were using. They were using Taurus spacesuits, Space Leo Suits, Virgo's, Scorpio's, and last of all, the one suit that they had studied over. The Gundam Sentinel. Up close the Gundam Sentinel was tall, menacing looking with its slick back features as well as the deep red color of its hull. Even the singular v-shaped green eye made it look twice as menacing as if the mobile suit had been possessed by some demon ready to slay Gundams like a knight slaying dragons. The Preventer Gundams showed no fear as they saw not one, two, but four Gundam Sentinels coming right at them. 

Strangely enough as the Gundam Sentinels came closer to the approaching Preventers, the rest of the mobile army stayed behind. As if they were waiting for their orders or as if the only order was to deploy and wait. It didn't cross the minds of the Preventers as their sights were set upon the approaching Sentinels. They came closer the Preventers and they heard an ominous robotic voice call out to them.

"Death to the Preventers." 

* * *

The dance floor at the high school was packed with young lovers and couples dancing in each other's arms. While at the sides where there were sets of tables, chairs as well as the refreshment table was set, there were those that were just taking a break, except for one; Julia Peacecraft Rodriguez. She watched as her friends enjoyed themselves. She saw how happy Hikaru, Leto, Paul, and William were. Yet she didn't want to complain or moan about her position. She tried to smile as she watched this take place. 

Yet, in the back of her mind she felt something strange. An odd tickle that rose up like an itch that came from no where or an inexplicable headache. It was as if she was sensing something that was going on far away. A premonition…maybe. Julia tried to dismiss it, like seeing something strange in the sky and realizing that it was just a passing plane. Yet, this feeling grew deeper and deeper as the music kept thumping, people kept dancing, and lovers kept kissing. All of the noise around her seemed to be drowned by this feeling that rose within her as if she was drowning in it. It became so deep that she felt pushing and shoving within the depths of her mind as if she was experiencing someone else's misery. 

BAM!

She felt something shock her to her right, as if someone had crashed a car into her side. She looked and in the dim light of the dancehall she saw nothing. No one drove a car into her side, yet she felt sore in that area like a punch she was trying to recover from.

She rubbed it with her left hand, "What in the hell is going on?" She asked herself hoping that some divine force would answer her. 

BAM!

Another great crash came from her left side that snapped her out of her chair and down to the linoleum floor. She recovered and stood up, while there were a few of her classmates staring wondering what happened as she did. Yet, she looked and found no sign of any kind of great crash. 

Then that deep tickle grew to be an itch, an unbearable itch that she couldn't scratch. Yet that was when something rose out of her throat that only she heard.

"Mom, Dad." She uttered as her eyes grew wide with terror and fear like looking at a car that was coming at her head on. She couldn't do anything except stare into the lights and hope the mad driver misses. "They're in danger." 

* * *

"Ahhhh!" Johan screamed as the next shot from the Gundam Sentinel was fired. In his squinted vision through the 360-degree panoramic vision of the Mobile Trace System he watched as the other Sentinels tore up his friends. Some of them were barely escaping, while others had given in to the power of the Sentinel and were being slaughtered. He watched as the Gundam Sentinels transformed themselves, similarly to the Bird Mode of the Wing Zero, yet it wasn't a bird that the Sentinels had transformed into. They transformed into claws; a short body that contained the engines while from the slim body came four claws like a twisted Gundanium crab. Johan felt the searing pain as one of the Gundam Sentinels in their clawed form sunk its grip into him. The searing pain ripped through the four points where the enemy had him. He couldn't fight back, he could only scream. 

Elsewhere, Heero tried to fight back at one of the Sentinels using his buster rifle. That was when he watched as the Gundam Sentinel brought about its own buster rifle and fired. The barrel that was aimed at Heero sent out its yellow rays as the beam hit him. It tore through the Gundanium hull and the pain feedback went straight to Heero. The pain was so much that not even the Perfect Soldier, Heero Yuy, could stand it. 

On the other-side of the battlefield, Haruka Tenou Rodriguez, Johan's dear wife and mother of Julia and Leto screamed out in pain as the claws of the Sentinel were sunk into her. In the shallow parts of the ocean, lobsters and crabs use this same method to catch fish and other prey. Haruka was no longer a Gundam pilot but prey to a malevolent crab claw.

When all the Preventers were disabled and under control one of the Sentinels took the opportunity to strike the greatest blow. Inside Gundam Sentinel 03, Angelina Lestat took her beam rifle and aimed it at the Preventer Ship Tabris. 

"To the success of our mission!" She screamed as she fired

The beam ripped across space like a speeding boat across the surface of a lake. Within a matter of seconds it hit the target, and Angelina relished in pleasure as she watched the Preventer ship Tabris begin to explode. 

"We've won!" She screamed as she lolled in the ecstasy of her victory as if it was the peak of sex. "When you send a Silencer, the job gets done and you have just been silenced."

"Not yet!" Heero Yuy shouted out in defiance as he took the last remaining barrel of his twin buster rifle and aimed it for the enemy asteroid. It charged up as the Silencers were shocked to see that the Great Heero Yuy was still fighting even though he knows that he lost. The particles charged inside the rifle and Heero fired without locking onto the target. He aimed with his left eye while the stinging blood ran into his right eye. As he pulled the trigger there were only two people running through the Perfect Soldiers mind. _Relena…Hikaru…._

"I SHALL NOT DIE TODAY!" He shouted, "ANGEL FIRE ZERO!" The trigger was pulled and the deed was done. 

To be continued… 


	4. Growing Up

****

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, G-Gundam, any movies or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

****

Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

****

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing:

Children of the Gundam

****

Chapter 3: Growing Up

*

At the High School prom, Julia Peacecraft Rodriguez stood up again as she had fallen to the floor for the third time. Standing up she felt weak in her knees as if she had been fighting for the past hour. As she finally stood up on her own two feet that feeling came back again.

BAM!

It was that incredible impact once again that caused her to faint. Everyone on the dance floor who looked in her direction saw what had just happened. Yet, the only ones who came to her side were her friends, William Maxwell, Hikaru Peacecraft Yuy, Paul Marquise, and her brother Leto Peacecraft Rodriguez. All of them came to Julia's side and tried to figure out what was wrong with her. 

Leto picked her up and called to her, "Julia. Hey, Julia. Wake up."

They watched in the dim light as Julia came around, it looked like she was moving her lips, Leto brought his ear down to her lips, and over the beating thump of the music he found out what she was saying.

He looked back up at the other Preventer Teens as he reported what his sister said, "She said our parents are in danger."

* * *

In the nurses office of the school, with the school nurse there with them, the Preventer Teens listened to Julia explain the situation. She said that at a certain point during the dance she had this odd feeling as if she was in a fight. Yet at the same time there was no one around her. It seemed that she was experiencing someone else's fight, but the how and the why was still inexplicable. 

"I don't know what to say." The nurse said

"Maybe I can offer an explanation." A voice said from behind them

The nurse and the Preventer teens look and saw Hikaru's mother, Relena Peacecraft Yuy. She stood in the doorway to the nurses' office wearing her three-piece suit with her skirt. She had a look in her eyes like a doctor that was delivering bad news to a dead patient's family. She tried to hide the news of what she had to report but she wasn't the best person in hiding her feelings about anything. Her love for Heero Yuy demonstrates that to its fullest. 

"What is it, mom?" Hikaru asked

"Oh, Hikaru!" Relena cried as she threw her arms around her daughter and began to sob, "I just received the news! Its Heero!"

Hikaru took her mothers shoulders and shoved them away to look at her mothers sobbing face, "What is it mother!?" She demanded, "What about my dad?"

"There was a terrible battle." Relena cried taking short gasping breaths as she tried to explain the news. "The Preventers were defeated."

"Is dad dead?!" Hikaru asked, "Tell me, mom! Is dad dead!?!"

Relena continued to sob, "The Gundams were damaged…beyond repair…"

"IS HE DEAD!?" Hikaru screamed

"I don't know…." Relena sobbed even more, "They're searching for him. They already think he's dead. Oh, Hikaru! I'm so sorry!"

She hugged her daughter and continued to sob on her shoulder. Yet, she didn't hear the solitary giggle from her daughter. The laugh slowly trickled into a laugh, and the sobbing Relena looked at her daughter.

"Why are you laughing?" Relena asked

"If dad is just missing," Hikaru stated, "Then he's not dead."

Before Relena could say anything her cell phone rang, she composed herself, wiping away her tears, and cleared her throat.

"This is Vice Foreign Minister Relena Yuy." She answered, "Yes…Really…Oh, thank you very much!" She hung up the phone and turned to the children. "They found all the Preventers. They found all of your parents, as well as Trieze and Lady Une. They're being brought to Colony L-1 for treatment."

"Let's go then!" William jumped out of his seat, "I want to see my mom and dad and find out who did this to them!"

"I second that." Hikaru added, "Let's go mom. Let's go see him." 

"Yes." Relena said with the tears of joy welting in her aged eyes. 

* * *

In a hospital on Colony L-1, the Preventer Teens had arrived with Relena Yuy as their guide. They came to the hospital and found their parents in the intensive care ward. Which was just one large room with nearly twenty beds arranged in rows with each other. The Preventers were all lying next to each other in their beds. All of them had sustained considerable injuries. Lots of broken bones, cracked bones, cuts, bruises, concussions, loss of blood, and slight whiplash. It was actually amazing to the doctors on staff that all the Preventers survived the battle let alone being discovered in escape pods as well as the core lander for the Gundam pilots. All of the Preventers looked terrible with all the bandages and casts on their arms, legs, and heads. 

Looking upon them made the Preventer Teens feel sorry for their parents. It made them all feel so sorry that they couldn't speak to them. They wanted to know who did this to them and wanting to know that turned the sympathy into anger. They became collectively angry as they continued to see how helpless their parents were. Especially after all those things they heard on the news about the heroic deeds that the Preventers would always do. To see them defeated was so heart wrenching that William took his fist and slammed it against the wall. 

"Damn it." He cursed between his teeth, "Who did this to them?"

"We don't know who did it, William." Relena explained, "the next available police force is investigating it and so far they haven't come up with anything."

Hikaru went to the side of Heero Yuy, recognizing the bangs of moss brown hair that came out from his bandages. She felt so sorry for her father that she laid her head at side of his bed seeing his heavily bandaged arm. She wanted to do something about the situation, but what could she do? She didn't have a mobile suit as powerful as the Wing Zero and she didn't even know who the enemy was. All of this made her feel inept and out of control. She hated feeling out of control; she wanted to control nearly anything and everything that was around her. She wanted to cry at her fathers' side, but before she could let her tears go she heard a gasp. 

She sat up and saw her father breathing heavily, his eyes were partially open, and it looked as if he was fighting to stay away as he spoke. 

"Relena." He whispered, "Hikaru, the plans. In…the…core lander. The…plans."

He exhaled again and fell back to deep sleep again. Hikaru was stunned for the moment when she saw her father come out of unconsciousness and try to speak to whoever was listening. At first she thought he was suffering from delirium from whatever happened to him. Yet, knowing her father he never suffered very much from such things. At least not that she knew of, but it was something in his voice that compelled her to ask.

"Mom." She called, "Where are the core landers?" 

"From what I was told," Relena reported, "They're in the space hanger, why?"

"I've got an idea." Hikaru said as she dashed out of the hospital room. The other Preventer teens looked at each other in somewhat of a state of confusion but they followed Hikaru as if they were sheep and she was the shepherd. 

They all felt frustrated in following Hikaru from the hospital to the hangar without even the simplest courtesy of explanation. The annoyance of this chasing had gotten to William Maxwell the most. It was a trait that he inherited from his father, a short fuse of patience. With a quick burst, he caught up with Hikaru. He noticed a fire in Hikaru's eyes, a determination that he had never seen before. Seeing that kind of fire made William ask his question in a less huffy tone.

"What are you doing?" William asked, "What did he say to you?"

Hikaru answered, "Dad told me of some plans that are in his core lander."

"What kind of plans?"

"I don't know, but that's what I'm going to find out."

After tens of hallways and a few elevator rides, they arrived at the hangar. It was the same as any other, once you've seen one you've seen them all. The same steel walls, grease stained floor, and the ships that were docked there.

Upon entering the Preventer Teens were confronted with an equally horrific sight as seeing their parents beaten and mangled. They saw the Preventer Gundams Core Lander, all of them looking like wrecked cars at a junkyard. Their metallic exteriors crunched inwards like aluminum cans and twisted like tin foil. The wings of some models were bent in impossible directions like paper clips out of shape. Their paintjobs chipped in some places, cracked in others, and also brunt. At first it didn't feel like a hangar to the Preventer Teens, more like a space ship graveyard. That was when all eyes saw the Gundams. All of them, the Wing Zero, the Heavyarms, the DeathScythe Hell, and so on. All of them were in tatters beyond repair, legs missing, arms blown off, and cockpits half ripped open from whatever blasted it. Some Gundams had their heads missing like Greek statues, and others were still hanging on by only a fragment of Gundanium with a few stray wires. 

"Dear God Almighty." William uttered seeing his father's Gundam broken and unused like a thrown away car, "What monster could do this?"

Hikaru didn't answer; she instead went for the Wing Zero's core lander. It looked just as trashed as the others and yet the glass over the cockpit was still in tact. That explained how the Gundam pilots survived in space, all of the cockpits in each core lander was safe. She went to the cockpit and looked for the opening switch over the landscape of crumpled metal. She found the crushed inward switch and pushed it in sending its plastic covering to the floor. 

The cockpit of the core lander shook as it tried to release itself from its maladjusted groove. It then yanked itself away from its position, shaking as it rose up. Hikaru wasted no time as she dove into the cockpit, scrambling and searching for something that could be "the plans" that her father told her to find. She felt like a desperate treasure hunter looking for a sunken ship containing gold that everyone told her that didn't exist. Yet, in her heart she knew that it had to be there, her father couldn't lie to his own daughter. She searched over the landscapes of the seats and in the crevices in between them, nothing. She scoured and found nothing. She sat in the passenger side of the core lander and leaned back in frustration.

"Damn it dad!" She cursed, "Why didn't you tell me where exactly it was?"

Her frustration escalated and she brought her fist down on the dash. 

POP!

Hikaru looked and found the glove compartment spring open and there it was. Lying on top of a stack of miscellaneous papers was a disk in a plastic casing like a jewel just waiting to be taken by some adventurer. Hikaru's heart leaped with glee and her eyes widened, as she knew that this was the very thing that she was searching for. She grabbed the disk and shoved it in between the material of her bra and her breasts since she had no pockets in her prom dress. She got out of the core lander and looked at her friends. 

"I need a computer." She said. 

* * *

Hikaru needed a computer and the Preventer Teens found one. It really was a good thing that these things were provided in libraries in the colony. Though they had to be very careful in making sure that the librarians didn't catch onto what they were doing, otherwise it would put everything in jeopardy. 

Under the cover of the watchful eyes of her friends, Hikaru placed the found CD in the disk tray. As she closed up the CD tray within an instant a new screen came up over the one the library had. 

ENTER PASSWORD: _

"Enter Password?" Hikaru thought to herself. She took a quick glance around to see if anyone was watching the task that she was doing. Bringing her attention back to the task at hand she tried to think of what would be the most logical password for her father to use. 

"WING ZERO" She typed

INCORRECT

Hikaru thought for a moment once again to think of the key to this treasure trove of secrets. She thought back to the mission that her dad told her about in which he had become a Gundam pilot. Maybe that was the password

"OPERATION METEOR" 

INCORRECT

It became frustrating to her, like trying to play baseball without a bat. She ran her fingers through her hair in frustration of not even making a scratch in this problem. Several of the other Preventer Teens tried to open the lock, Paul Marquise tried the word Zero after the Zero system. It was incorrect. Then Julia and Leto both tried their own password, they both typed in the word Peace, but it too was incorrect. Next was William Maxwell, but his was incorrect as well, it didn't even matter what it was. 

Hikaru sat back down, she exhaled and as she did something popped into her mind like a memory that was forgotten and suddenly came out of the blue. It was when Hikaru saw her mother and father together. She saw how much they truly loved each other. It was so much that in her heart Hikaru wanted her love to be just like theirs. Yet, it wasn't that which gave her an idea, it was the person, her mother…Relena. 

"RELENA" She typed

CORRECT

The drive in the computer spun faster and faster in reading the CD. The screen began to display the Preventer logo as a desktop image, but that wasn't the end of it. As Hikaru's eyes saw the Preventer Logo, out came a small window. In that window Hikaru, as well as the other Preventer Teens, saw the face of her father, Heero Yuy, just as handsome as ever.

He spoke, "To my daughter, Hikaru. If you're seeing this now at a teenager's age, then it means that something has happened to me. I didn't mean for you to have this until the proper age. None of us in Preventer wanted any of you to have this until the proper time. This disk contains plans for a new breed of Gundams…all for you. Except, there are only a few that can build them. Take these plans to Mars. There you shall find your uncle, Kazuki Peacecraft and Id Kushrinada, sometimes called Id the Lion; they are still members of Preventer but at a different post. Take these plans to these Gundam Smiths and they shall be built for you."

The message ended and all of the Preventer Teens felt very moved, as if they had just done a little more growing up in that one moment. Then they were faced with the prospect of fighting, in their very own Gundams no less. How could they live up to such a task? Would they fulfill their parents wish and avenge them for what had been done? Some of them knew they would but others knew that they had to. 

"Shouldn't we leave this up to the authorities?" Julia asked sounding just a tad bit wishy-washy.

William automatically shook his head, "We can't." He said grimly, "If we do then they'll be slaughtered. We have to do this on our own."

There was a moments pause among them as they heard the noises of the library, people tapping at the computers, others sorting through the books, turning their pages, and the whir of fluorescent lamps overhead. 

"Where to now?" Paul Marquise asked

"We go to Mars." Leto Rodriguez answered.

Hikaru smiled, "In the words of my dad…Mission accepted."

To be continued… 


	5. The Gundamsmiths

****

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, G-Gundam, any movies or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

****

Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

****

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing:

Children of the Gundam

****

Chapter 4: The Gundam Smiths

*

On Mars in the capital city called Red Sky, one of the few cities that were built since the colonization of Mars. It truly was amazing to see the cities of Mars and how much progress had been completed in only 15 short years. It seemed that the population problem that was sweeping across the Earth, Colonies, as well as the Moon would soon be solved. And it was in that city where the Preventer Teens would find Kazuki Peacecraft and Id "the Lion" Kushrinada. However, all of them had come on their own, Relena decided to stay behind on Colony L-1 in case Heero's or the other Preventers conditions had changed. On the other hand the bigger problem for the Preventer Teens is meeting these two men. 

The Preventer Teens had met Kazuki on several occasions but not very often. In both the literal and metaphorical sense Kazuki was to the Preventer Teens, like an Uncle that doesn't visit that often. As far as Id "the Lion" Kushrinada, the Preventer Teens knew that he was related to Lady Une, Treize, and Mariemea. Beyond that they weren't exactly sure about anything else except what they heard in stories about him. Come to think about it, they haven't met Id at all. Then again, from the stories they've heard about him, it'd be quite an event to meet him. 

On the streets of Red Sky, it was incredibly busy like New York City under the pink Martian sky. They didn't exactly pack a lot, they only packed what they needed and changed out of their prom clothes before setting out to Mars. With the five of them sitting in a cab they tried to give the directions to the cab driver. 

"The address is a small bar on the corner of Bradbury and Wells." Hikaru repeated from what Relena told her about Kazuki Peacecraft and Id "the Lion" Kushrinada. 

In the cramped environment of the cab, the old driver looked back at his young passengers and asked very curiously, "What are you fine young kids want at that place?" He asked the question as if the shop was in a very bad part of town. 

"We're going there to meet family." Paul Marquise explained.

"Have you seen them recently?" The driver asked

"We…" Hikaru picked up, "haven't seen them in a while. We're going to see them, 'cause we need help."

"Ah." The driver said stretching the wrinkles on his face, "Family problems."

"Something like that." Hikaru said rather grimly as she watched the city blocks pass by. She, like the others were deep in their own thoughts about what's happened in the past few days. So much has changed. Just a few days ago they were all wondering whom to take to the prom and now the near death of their parents has knocked their senses into a new perspective. Each had his or her own petty concerns until that moment, all of it then seemed so small in retrospect. The next big question was how to deal with it. 

"We're here." The driver said, "That'll be 10."

Hikaru reached into her pocket and gave the money to the cab driver. All of the Preventer Teens got out of the cab, gathered their bags, and looked at the place where they were dropped off at. As the cab sped off to its next pick up point, the Preventer Teens were rather unnerved by the place that they came to. It was just a simple corner bar in the middle of the city that had a sign on the beveled corner in neon, "La Quinta".

"Are you sure that this is the right place?" William Maxwell asked Hikaru

Hikaru looked at the note that her mother, Relena, gave to her. It was there in her beautiful penmanship, "La Quinta, on the corner of Wells and Bradbury." Hikaru looked up at the street sign that towered over her head; it read those exact names that were on the paper. Then she looked at the red neon sign that blazed in the side of the building. 

She shrugged, "This must be the place." 

"Alright then." Leto said as he walked up to the rotted wooden door. He knocked, "Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Come in please." A very kind voice answered

Leto reached down for the doorknob and opened it. As the door opened, Leto as well as the other Preventer teens was greeted with a great stench. It smelled just like alcohol, that sour sweet smell that was so thick that several members of the group had to flay their hand across their face in order to fend off the smell. The first things that greeted their eyes as they entered the bar were two men. The bar itself was typical of any, with a pattern tiled floors, the glass windows that looked out onto the streets, several round tables, chairs, stool chairs at the bar, and the bar itself. Yet the strange thing was there was no one in there, just the two men that stood behind the bar. 

The first man looked to be in his thirties, then again it was hard to tell his age or even if he was sprouting any gray hair with his beautiful silvery blonde hair. It came down to his chest in a very thick pony tail braid. He looked at the Preventer Teens with a smile and one eye while a black patch covered his other. The man looked like some kind of pirate that was thrown from his old time and was living in this age of colonies in space and cities on Mars. 

The man standing to his left looked much younger roughly in his late 20's. He appeared frightening at first when he looked at the Preventer Teens with his deep red eyes from under his long shaggy and equally red hair. 

"What can we do for you, today?" The silver hair man asked

"Are you Kazuki Peacecraft?" Hikaru stepped forward

The silver hair man smiled "That I am, and the man at my left is Id "the Lion" Kushrinada."

Id smiled and bowed his head to the Preventer Teens.

"I'm afraid all of you have us at a disadvantage." Kazuki smiled, "All of you seem to know who we are but I have no idea who all of you are."

"My name is Hikaru Yuy."

"Yuy?" Kazuki raise an eyebrow, "Is it you? Hikaru? Heero's daughter?"

"Yes." Hikaru answered

Kazuki's face had light up in such a light that Id had never seen before. It was as if a friend had just died and then come back to life a few months later. It looked like Kazuki was going to leap up and start screaming and singing "Hallelujah". He got up from the bar stool and walked over to Hikaru and began to laugh.

"It has been a very long time." Kazuki chuckled, "All of you have grown up quite a lot since the last time I saw you."

"Which was when?" Leto Rodriguez asked

"Oh, I think it was about 7 or 8 years ago. Wasn't it, Id?" He turned to his friend

Id cupped his chin, "I think it was." 

"Was it really that long ago?" Julia Rodriguez asked

"Must have been." Kazuki continued to smile, "Last time we saw you, all of you were this high." He held his hand as close to the floor as his estimations would allow him. His hand was at the level of the Preventer Teens waists; seeing that all of them looked at each other knowing that it must have been that long ago. 

"So, what brings you kids to Mars?" Kazuki asked he leaned against the bar like a bartender waiting for his patron to order his drink. 

"It's about our parents." Hikaru offered the explanation, but she did it in such a grim fashion that Kazuki had soon lost his smile. 

"What's happened to them?" He asked

"They were in a terrible battle." Hikaru's voice began to crack as she began to loose her own composure. Yet, surprisingly enough she never shed one tear, it seemed to Kazuki and Id that Hikaru was trying her hardest to stay together, that she didn't want to appear weak. 

"It's alright, Hikaru." Kazuki said as he reached out his hand to touch her shoulder, "We're family here." 

"Our parents were in battle." Hikaru repeated, "They weren't…killed. They've been badly injured…dad told me to bring this to you." She reached into her pocket and with a shaking hand she brought the disk up to Kazuki. "He said, to give this to you. The password on it is Relena."

Kazuki took the disk, "Relena? My little sister." He looked at it and back at the Preventer Teens, "Come with us."

Kazuki and Id came out from behind the bar and went to a door that was adjacent to the bar. The group of them went through the door and into what was obviously a small pantry with shelves of different goods like tomato juice for Bloody Mary's and a few spare bottles just in case they ran short. There were shelves on both sides of the door that they came through, but there were no shelves on the wall on the opposite end of the door they came through. 

As they crammed themselves inside this small pantry, some could see Kazuki reach under one of the shelves. His hand panned around as if his fingertips were searching for something. Then it stopped and made one last move as if he was pressing a button that was hidden under that shelf. Then on that wall opposite of the door they came though, it began to move. It moved like the sliding doors of an elevator…it was an elevator! The Preventer Teens saw into an elevator that Kazuki and Id walked into.

"Come in." Kazuki said as the Preventer Teens walked in, the elevator doors closed. Then they felt that sudden jerk downwards, the very same feeling as if they were going one floor down. The situation to them had taken the great leap from tragic seeing their parents beaten so badly, to strange in meeting someone they hadn't seen in years, and then to bizarre being in that elevator going down. 

"Where are we going?" William Maxwell asked

"You'll see." Kazuki answered

"That doesn't answer my question."

Kazuki chuckled, "You know your just like your father, you know that? He was just as impatient and impulsive. I'll tell you this much, we never retired out of Preventer. We just took different positions. Such as in the Terra-forming project, after that was over we went elsewhere. Which doesn't necessarily mean that we're out of Preventer entirely." 

The elevator stopped with that sudden jerk upward and the doors opened, and the Preventer Teens were greeted with an amazing sight. They saw a hangar, a hangar that looked just like the one back on the Preventer Ship Tabris when they were allowed to see it on those once a month visits. They were met with the very putrid stale and grimy stench of motor oil, just like in a garage. It was enormous, the place looked tall enough to house mobile suits. They looked around and found parts lying on the floor, enormous parts that looked like they belonged…in Gundams. At the very end of the hangar there was something that was covered in a great tarp. But there was more than one, there were several, each covered by a great tarp concealing a great secret underneath it. 

Already the Preventer Teens were suspicious about what was going on, but before they could ask Kazuki had taken the disk and went to a nearby computer that was near the elevator door. 

He placed the disk into it and typed in the password. He heard the heartfelt message from Heero Yuy to the kids. 

"Very touching." Kazuki said with the greatest sincerity, "Especially coming from him." 

"What do you mean?" Hikaru asked

"Let me tell you." Kazuki said like a truly grown up person, "Before you were born, Heero was about the most emotionally absent person I could meet. The most you could get out of him were a few words. So let's see." Kazuki browsed through the disk and found plans, schematics; design patterns, and even plans for a new type of cockpit system. 

"Hmm." He said with high eyebrows, "Very exceptional work. I think we can make this, don't you think Id?"

Kazuki looked back and saw that Id was preoccupied, he looked just like as he always did when he was deep in thought. His red eyes looking down to the floor and his hearing shut off to the rest of the world. At least, until a moment later when he looked at one of the Preventer Teens and it happened to be that the one closest to him was Paul Marquise

"My mother." He said, "And my father, Lady Une and Treize Kushrinada. Are they alright?"

Paul, being the honest boy that he was, could never lie. It was a trait that was both inherited and taught by his mother and father. He looked at Id's red eyes very grimly; "They were on board the Tabris when it was attacked. They are in the hospital now on Colony L-1. Their condition is stable." 

Id's face looked like it was sinking just like his heart, "Kazuki." He said and then looked up to his friend and co-worker, "I have to go."

"Go where, old friend?" Kazuki asked

"To Colony L-1."

Kazuki didn't say a word; he only nodded to him and Id the Lion stepped into the elevator and went along his way to Colony L-1. The atmosphere around the Preventer Teens was very confused in the very least. There they were meeting people they hadn't seen in years and there was so much that they couldn't understand. They felt like ships caught in a violent storm being tossed from side to side, not knowing where they are, where they were, or where they were going. 

"What was that all about?" Leto asked

Kazuki shook his head; "It's his mother, Lady Une. I think he still has a few things that aren't solved between himself and her."

"So, Lady Une is his mother?" Hikaru asked

"Yup." Kazuki answered, "He's her son, unfortunately back in the day, Lady Une had spilt personalities. So with that he was abandoned but he was then raised and trained in a laboratory to be a perfect soldier. Unfortunately like many projects that made way for the Mobile Dolls, it was scrapped, and Id was to be destroyed. So he ran away. He sought refuge in the company of Treize Kushrinada, so Id is Treize's adopted son and Lady Une's biological son."

"That's one really screwed up family, you know that?" William commented

"It is." Kazuki said, "But he has to resolve this on his own."

* * *

On Colony L-1, in the hospital, Id had arrived to see his mother. He came onto the floor where she was being cared for. He saw her and Treize lying side by side like husband and wife lying in bed together. Still, he couldn't see past the bandages that were wrapped around them. He couldn't help but pity them as they lie asleep from the medication. Yet, at the same time he was so wrapped with the feelings that consumed him that he couldn't help it any longer. He knelt down by the bed where Lady Une lie; he took her hand and cried into the bed sheets. 

"Mother." He cried, "I'm so sorry…" his voice cracked, "I never did forgive you to your face for what you did to me. I know you can hear me, mother. I forgive you, I truly do forgive you." 

As he cried he heard a very sweet seductive voice call out to him

"That's very sweet, Id."

Id looked up from where he was crying; his corneas were just as red as his iris'. Standing there in the doorway was his sister, Mariemea Kushrinada. She truly had grown up to the age of 23. She had grown both up and out, the very womanly curves of her hips and bust weren't hidden that well from behind the dress that she wore. It was a long red silky dress that hugged her body and was cut in such a way that it showed off her leg and quite a bit of her thigh. It was also cut in a low fashion that accented the fullness of her bosom. Her red hair flowed gracefully down to her shoulders and shimmered in the harsh fluorescent lights. It was so much that Id had to remind himself that it was his sister in that doorway. 

"You heard the news." Id said as he turned his vision back to his mother and father. 

Mariemea walked over, pulled up a chair and sat next to Id, "Yes, I heard." She said, "I don't know who could have done such a thing."

"Bastards." Id growled, "That's what they are, bastards." He looked at his mother and father, "I swear on my honor and my blood that I will avenge both of you. Those bastards will know nothing but pain and suffering for the grievous sin of harming my family." 

He got up and walked right out the door. 

"Good luck, Id." Mariemea whispered 

* * *

Back on Mars, in the hangar below the La Quinta bar, Kazuki had printed out the plans for the Gundams on the disk that Heero had made. While that was going on he also made a few phone calls to a few people that he knew, as to the identity of who they were, he only told the Preventer Teens that they were "his friends". 

As the last of the plans had printed out he kept looking at them and giving praise, "Its absolutely fantastic work that was done on these."

"So, can they be built?" William asked

"I'm sure they can," Kazuki answered, "but the design specs call for a few things that require a little more."

"Like what?"

"Well, that'll require another call on my part to a guy I know who delves into this sort of thing. Just don't ask too many questions." He gave a surreptitious wink to William, that made him think of the kind of devious acts that Kazuki was going to do within the next few days. 

"How long do you think you can make them?" William asked

"That's going to be the tricky part." Kazuki shrugged

William narrowed one eye, "Why is that?"

"We have limited man power, so it might take us…about a month."

"A MONTH!?" William shouted, his voice echoing and carrying through the hangar.

"Calm down. I said it _might_, I didn't say that it would. I do have a back-up plan for this."

"Which is?"

"That will be a surprise." Kazuki smiled like a charming devil and then he looked at his watch, "My friends should be arriving soon." 

DING

"That might be them now." Kazuki announced

The elevator doors opened and out from the elevator came three people. One of them was a woman, she seemed about the same age as Kazuki, but she didn't exactly hide her body under a lot of clothes. Quite the opposite, she wore a tank tope with very scruffy, almost masculine, pants and boots.

"Kazuki, honey!" She exclaimed as she threw her arms around Kazuki Peacecraft. 

"Hon." Kazuki cooed smoothly as he wrapped his arms around her. 

"Ahem!" The impulsive William Maxwell stepped in

"Oh, excuse me." Kazuki said as he broke the embrace, "May I introduce you to my team, the Desbats. This is my wife, Laramee."

"Hi!" Laramee Smiled, as she brushed away her relatively short brown hair from her deep blue eyes. 

"And behind her is her brother, Slayzer."

The family resemblance between Slayzer and Laramee could clearly be seen with their brown hair and deep sapphire eyes.

"And last, but definitely not least, Valos."

Valos looked quite a bit older than the others did. The small network of wrinkles defined his age across his face and the small gray hairs that were showing up in his dirty shade of blonde hair. Yet his hair was carefully combed unlike Slayzer who let his hair hang over his face like a wild and wooly man, or more accurately a "hippie". 

"We've heard the news about the Preventers." Valos reported to Kazuki, "What's the emergency?" His posture slightly slouching and his hands were behind his back like a stout soldier. 

"We need to build Gundams for these kids." Kazuki pointed his thumb to the Preventer Teens.

The Desbats all looked at the Preventer Teens from head to toe in unison as if signaled and looked back at Kazuki and asked, 

"You're joking, right?"

"I'm afraid not." Kazuki said

"Well why can't we fight?" Slayzer suggested

"We haven't piloted, much less fought in a mobile suit in years." Valos said in his very well educated opinion, "So, we're going to have to place our hops in these kids."

"Have any of you ever pilots mobile suits?" Slayzer asked the Preventer teens.

From the Preventer Teens there was a muffled conformation that none of them had ever set foot inside a mobile suit cockpit.

"But my dad told me that we wouldn't need to know how to pilot a mobile suit." Hikaru spoke up.

"Oh?" Slayzer asked very sarcastically, "And why is that? Why did dear dad say that?"

"It's because of a new cockpit system." Kazuki explained, "A system called MTS, or Mobile Trace System in which the pilot synchronizes with the mobile suit. Thus the pilot and suit become one."

"That's impossible." Slayzer sneered

"It isn't." Leo Rodriguez refuted, "I've seen it myself and it works." 

"And if none of you mind," Hikaru added. "We don't have time to argue."

"I agree." A new voice entered the room

All eyes turned their attention to the elevator doors. In that doorway was Id "the Lion" Kushrinada. His face was stern and serious with a fire in his eyes like never before. He was determined, he was ready to fight, and perhaps ready to die.

"We must hurry." Id reiterated, "There is no telling when the ones who attacked Preventer will strike again." 

To be continued… 


	6. The Defector

****

Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, G-Gundam, any movies or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

****

Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

****

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing:

Children of the Gundam

****

Chapter 5: The Defector

*

A few weeks later…

So far, the Silencers hadn't made a whole lot of activity since the Preventers had been taken out of action. It was as if the whole organization had gone into a slight dormancy. But they weren't like James Bond villains where they allow the enemy to escape or recover. The Silencers and the Dark Zodiac knew that they had won. The Preventers were out of the picture and revenge was fulfilled. The only thing that was left was to take whatever they wanted. As a mater of fact they did pull off one job. 

It was about a week ago, there was a very tight shipment of gold, jewels, and precious metals. The total load was worth several billions dollars and it was a load that neither the Silencers nor the Dark Zodiac could pass by. So, the order was sent and the Silencers attacked. They came, they saw they reeked havoc, they conquered, and came back to the base with several billions dollars worth of materials. Except, there was one thing that was missing. It wasn't on the surface of matters. The thing that was missing was within one of the Silencers. It was the young one, Kaworu Gavrich. 

Inside the Silencers base within an asteroid belt between the colonies and Mars, and within the room of Kaworu Gavrich, he was struggling with himself. Normally he would always be calm, cool, and clear minded. Yet, there was something very different. It had happened back on that mission as Kaworu was fighting, or for a more appropriate word, slaughtering the ones guarding the cargo. Kaworu couldn't help but hear the screaming of the pilots as they begged for their lives. 

"Please, don't kill me!" They screamed

It was that phrase, that pitiful last-ditch effort for life that seemed to spark something in Kaworu's heart. A familiarity in that one phrase that was the same as hearing as song that was once forgotten. In the back of Kaworu's mind he heard the voice of a young boy. His name was on the tip of his tongue but he couldn't bring himself to say it. That boy's voice kept ringing through the canyons of his mind. As he kept enthralling himself into those memories, the mission went on without him.

"What the hell's wrong with you?" Ivan demanded, but Kaworu could not answer. He only remained at his controls, and drifted through space while the mission went on. 

"This is not me." Kaworu whispered, "This is not me." That was when a single memory came to him. It rang loud through him as if he was a tuning fork being banged on a table. He was feeling pressure from all around as if a great hand had wrapped itself around him like a child's toy. He looked up to see the face of a monster looking out with its great white eyes. Yet, Kaworu had no fear, no fear at all. Much to his own surprise, he was smiling up at the great best that held its grasp around him. 

"Now, kill me." He said to the beast, "Otherwise you will be killed and you are not the existence that should die. Good bye…." He couldn't hear the name. He thought he could but it wasn't there it was as if it was censored out of his mind, but he heard the last phrase, "My life was meaningful because of you."

And Kaworu died…but he didn't. He was still alive in the cockpit of his Gundam Sentinel provided by the Silencers and the Dark Zodiac. 

"I shouldn't be here." He said.

It was during that whole time that Kaworu became unresponsive. To everything, when he was brought back to the base. Nothing seemed to snap him out of his daze. He had become catatonic; unresponsive to drugs, stimulants, and even the feminine wiles of his female teammate, Angelina Lestat. She was quite gorgeous when she game to him basically wearing nothing except a bath towel. Even that wasn't enough to bring Kaworu back to reality. So, the poor boy was left in his room while his teammates pondered upon what was wrong with him and the superiors thought about what to do with him. 

Kaworu on the other hand, inside his mind, the memories kept coming back little by little. The first memory was being in the grip of that monster with the great white eyes, but even that memory grew. The monster wasn't just a hand around his body and a pair of white eyes. It had purple skin, like some kind of imaginary monster. Then the next memory that came back was he was sitting upon a rock. He was sitting upon a rock formation near a lake watching the sun set. He was humming the Beethoven classic, the 9th Symphony, 4th movement, Ode to Joy. 

"Singing is good." Kaworu had said as if he was speaking to someone, "I think that song is the single greatest human achievement. Wouldn't you agree, Shinji Ikari?"

__

That's his name! That's his name! But who am I? I died but I'm still alive!

"Really?" Shinji asked, "And you are?"

"I am Kaworu. Kaworu Nagisa." Kaworu answered

__

That's my name! That's my true name! I had died, but I am alive! What am I?

"What are you, Kaworu?" Shinji had asked in another memory, "I don't understand." His voice sounded so full of sorrow as if he was about to loose Kaworu. 

Kaworu grabbed the sides of his head, tossed and turned in his bed. His sheets crumpling from the seizure of his memories. He moaned and groaned as his mind tried to grapple the answers of his dual life.

"I lived once!" Kaworu Gavrich told himself, "I died, I know I died and that's the truth! What am I? Why am I living again?" 

As he moaned and groaned he came to an answer.

"I…am…an…" The answered bolted through him like an electric shock, "Angel!"

That was the truth, he lived once, died once, and lived once again in this new time and place. He had been given a new lease to live. He lived once again in this place, but what he was doing felt wrong.

"This isn't right." Kaworu said as he took his hands away from his grayish hair, "I shouldn't do this."

He got up from his bed and went to the locked door of his cell. He knew that it was locked from the outside and can only be opened from the outside. He looked down at the lock and.…it opened. 

The door had opened for him. As Kaworu stepped out the door he made his declaration.

"I am not Kaworu Gavrich!" He shouted out, "I am Kaworu Nagisa!"

And thus he left the Silencers. 

* * *

Back on Mars, in the hangar underneath the La Quinta bar, work had gone on like it had for the past few weeks. Building the Gundams from scratch, training the Preventer Teens, and so on. Kazuki Peacecraft had mentioned that there would be something that he had a back up plan for making the new Gundams and it was under the tarp canvas at the end of the hangar. Kazuki had three worker mobile dolls in that place, which was a great help in refining the Gundanium into parts. As for some of the parts, Kazuki had to make a call to a man who delved in black market matters. It was true not to ask too many questions in matters like that.

Within all that time the Preventer Teens had come quite a very long way in matters of combat. Though they all had to learn something when it came to combat, either they had to kill or die. It was as simple as that. Preventer may have different points of view, but they are out of commission and new methods of combat have to be used.

Even though it was revealed that there were worker mobile dolls under those tarps there was one more that was left unrevealed. When it was revealed was about a few days after construction began and the worker mobile dolls had been revealed. The inquisitive and snooping William Maxwell couldn't help himself, as the Desbats and the Preventer Teens were working on their Gundams he walked over to the last tarp-covered object. He had the enormous suspicion that it was a mobile suit, since the shapes coming from the tarp were roughly the same size as the others. But why was it hidden?

William inched his way near the tarp under its thick heaviness, he found a way to get a part of it open. As he did he saw something metallic, shinning, and it was also red. 

"What are you doing there?" A deep demanding voice called out at him

The hairs on the back of William's neck underneath his thick ponytail stood up on end. His body felt stiff as if he had been frozen in place where he stood. Yet somehow his head turned around and found who was standing behind him. Over his shoulder, was a shadowed body that was blocking the lights, yet the frightened stiff William knew who was standing behind him.

"Id." William's voice uttered with a slight crack from his dry throat. 

"What were you doing there?" Id asked, his red eyes looked down at him.

William didn't want to show fear, especially in Id's face. He stood straight up with the wobbly shaking feeling in both his knees and his stomach. 

"What's under this thing?" William asked

Id did something that made William's stomach shiver even more. Id was smiling; it was such an odd thing to see that William wasn't sure how to react. 

"Do you want to see it?" Id asked 

William hesitated for a moment, "Sure." He said

Id used the cranes that were built into the ceiling. They were configured much like the prize machines with the singular claw at an arcade. The cranes pulled away the tarp from the mysterious machine that Id was unveiling to William Maxwell. The tarp came away as easily as a magician pulling away his handkerchief to show a white rabbit in his hand. Id had unveiled a Gundam.

The Gundam that Id had revealed to William was incredible. It stood at a height where the tops of its yellow spikes were nearly touching the ceiling. It was painted in colors of red, black and yellow. Upon its arms were claws, very similar to the Dragon Fangs on Wufei's old Gundam Altron. Yet they looked more like the claws of a bird.

William, as well as everyone else in the hangar, looked and saw something similar about the suit. To William it was the head that attracted the most attention. It had swept back features, giving it a very devilish look coupled with its red, black, and gold paint. 

"Epyon?" William uttered

"Not exactly." Id corrected, "I did once pilot the Epyon though, since my father was the one who designed it. But this one I designed on my own incorporating new technologies, such as the new cockpit system."

"You mean you put in the MTS into this thing?"

"Yes, I did." Id looked up at his machine proudly like a sculptor admiring his statue. "This is the Gundam Versago." 

* * *

Kazuki Peacecraft and Id owned the whole block where the La Quinta bar was located. That was how they were able to build the hangar underneath the whole block. It was rather brilliant since the rest of the block only consisted of run down shops, stores that had gone out of business, and empty alleyways. The La Quinta bar only constituted about one-forth of the block. While with the rest was run down shops, they simply acted as covers for what lie beneath the block as well as within. Behind those run down shops were bedrooms, almost like a miniature hotel. It was all kept secret from those on the streets and it's gotten to by a door that only the Desbats know about.

It was inside the miniature hotel adjacent to the La Quinta bar, Kazuki and Laramee were "getting busy" in one of that special room that he designed. They two of them were lying in bed under the warm covers and covered in a film of sticky sweet sweat. 

"Wow." Kazuki exhaled as he lied on his back

"I never get tired of hearing that form you." Laramee cooed as she cuddled up to her man, Kazuki. 

"Wow." Kazuki laughed as Laramee laughed with him.

"You are incredible." Kazuki complemented as Laramee continued to giggle, "with that thing you do with your hips. I never knew a woman could do that."

She hugged Laramee tighter feeling his bare skin against hers. She laid her head against his bare chest allowing her hair to splay out across the landscape of his chest.

It was only a matter of time before those two would ever get together. After all they had known each other for most of their lives. Ever since Kazuki was rescued from the attack on the Sank Kingdom and then raised to be a pirate preying upon the Alliance, Oz, and Romafeller. He had Laramee at his side like all the Desbats. Then after he met Preventer, things changed, but they had changed for the better. He no longer had to steal anymore and he had the woman that he loved. Though Laramee's brother, Slayer is a little protective of his sister, but seeing as how it was his commanding officer and his friend, Slayzer could see how the relationship would work. 

* * *

Everyone else down in the hangar working on the new breed of Gundams and Kazuki and Laramee were in the back bedrooms, Id sat at the bar drinking down his second glass of whiskey. He kept looking down into the depths of ice with the alcohol and thought only of his family. His mother Lady Une, his father Treize Kushrinada and how they were all injured.

Each moment that he thought about it the more enraged he became. It became like a fire that burned in every inch of his body. It was so much that Id wanted nothing more than to take his Gundam and find the ones whom did the heinous act. It began to burn even deeper that he wanted to just throw his glass against the wall, but he couldn't.

Staring down into his glass, Id had failed to notice who had just walked into his bar. He was so deep into his thoughts that his specially trained ears could pick up the creeks of the doors and the taps of the footsteps. He still continued to stare down into his glass of ice and whiskey.

"Penny for your thoughts?' A very sweet young voice asked

Id turned his head and found a very familiar, friendly and lovely face. It was Birdy Cephon or Birdy the Mighty as she's called on the Streets. She had a very pleasant heart-shaped face with slightly shallow eyes that were a light cool shade of blue that sparkled in the harsh light that flooded the bar. Her hair was long and smooth as it flowed down to the middle of her back. Yet, her hair came down in short bangs over her eyebrows and down the sides of her face. Yet her hair was similar in the odd hue to Id's red color. Birdy's hair was a mixture of white and purple on her right side, while her left side was a light red. She wore very skimpy clothes with a white PVC shirt that was like a tank top that complemented the skintight white PVC pants.

"Birdy." Id smiled as he hugged his love. 

It was actually funny how those two met. It was several years ago, in the year After Colony 208. Id the Lion was walking back to the La Quinta bar. Id thought back to that warm Mars summer night, he didn't remember exactly where he was before going back home. Perhaps he was coming back from a restaurant or maybe from a movie theater. He couldn't think of what he did before those events, but it was the events of that night that Id remembered the most. 

He walked on the sidewalk with the streetlights glaring above him and store signs were flashing. It was late at night and the streets were empty as if the city had become a ghost town. It was within viewing distance of the La Quinta bar. He was on the street corner that was across from it and that was when he heard noises from a nearby alleyway. It was between a small convenience store and a very small selection video store. The noises sounded like grunts and fists slamming. Hearing those noises, Id had several thoughts running through his mind, but his instincts told him to follow them.

As he followed the noises, he heard them grow louder and more intense. That was when Id's mind made the immediate connection that a fight was going on. His pace made a leap from a stroll to a sprint as he made his way to the noises. 

He came to the alleyway where he heard them. From the lights coming from the streets he looked down and saw a group of people. It was hard to tell whether it was men or women down in that canyon of brick and mortar. The collection of them were in a circle around something or perhaps someone. He walked down the alleyway, his shadow creeping up the wall and blocking out the thugs' light. 

Approaching them, Id's shadow stopped the thugs. They all turned to look at Id face to face. In the center of the circle of thugs Id saw a beautiful woman with her clothes ripped up like tissue paper. Her face was bruised and bleeding as she looked up to see the face of her own savior.

One thug looked to Id, "What?" He asked demandingly, "Are you going to try to be a hero?"

Id knew his abilities, he giggled, "Beating all of you would be too easy for my talents."

"Oh, a wise ass huh?" The thug said as he reached into his pocked and pulled out a very decorated switchblade. It bounced the light from the streets back to Id's face. As the first thug brought out his weapon, the other thugs brought out their weapons of choice. Some had knives, others had metal pipes, and the rest had baseball bats. Their sights were set like cruise missiles already locked onto their target and the first button was pushed. The thugs charged after Id like a stampeding heard of wild bulls.

In the instant before they attacked Id saw the woman; she seemed so helpless to him. She lied upon the dirty alleyway floor, having old chewing gum, broken pieces of glass, and other trash against her face, clothes and hands. 

The next instant Id was fighting, the first thug who had his switchblade out dove for the curious bystander, but Id was about to prove himself as a fighter. He ducked away from the attacker and fought back with a good solid blow to the back of the thugs' head. He was as swift as a Martian sandstorm, and the thugs were all down within only a few moments. They lay upon the floor of the alleyway like washed up fish on a shore or beached whales. He brushed off his hands and went to help the woman on the ground. As soon as he helped her up, he was taken aback by her beauty (despite her being beaten up) as well as her odd hair color). 

This was how Id the Lion met Birdy Cepheron. As it turned out, Birdy was a police officer for the RSPD, the Red Sky Police Department. The thugs who attacker her were just a hooligan gang, whose leader was sent to jail by Birdy. So, they just wanted a little revenge for their leader, but they didn't count on the part of Id showing up. After that, the two of them had hit it off quite nicely. Except, Id hadn't told her everything about himself, so it was a few weeks after they had met that Id confessed everything. He told Birdy everything about himself, his past, and his ties with the office of Preventer, but that still wasn't the whole story. That was when Id had shown Birdy the underground hangar. 

He could still remember the look on Birdy's face when she saw the hangar, her eyes were wide as could be and her jaw dropped down to her chest. She was even more surprised when she saw the Gundam Versago that Id had built. Birdy did have a small liking for Mobile Suits, but she had to put it aside especially in such a time of peace among the Colonies, the Earth, and especially Mars. If Id weren't a part of Preventer, then Birdy would have had to make a call for an arrest on him. Yet, Id was part of Preventer, in a very small way so there was no need for such an arrest.

That was their relationship, as the two of them hugged in the middle of the La Quinta bar they were completely tuned to one another and only each other. They didn't hear anything, not even the door to the pantry that blasted open. At least they didn't hear it until it made a hollow bang against the wall that made it sound like a shotgun.

Id and Birdy snapped out of their daze, broke their own embrace, and looked toward the pantry. Standing in the doorway was Valos, panting as if he had run the mile, or at his age, the quarter mile. 

"Id." He panted

"Calm down." Id said, "What's the problem?"

"We need you and Kazuki downstairs." He said brushing away the sweat from his face, "We got an incoming bogie, its made out of Gundanium with an unknown metal, and its not one of ours." 

The sparks in Id's brain snapped, he leaped off of the barstool as fast as a lizard on speed. He dashed into the pantry giving Valos one last instruction:

"Get Kazuki."

…And the elevator door closed….

* * *

Down in the hangar, the Preventer Teens and Slayzer had their eyes glued to a small crude system that was set up. It consisted of several monitors and wires that ran everywhere like a maddening type of spaghetti, all connecting to different modules for different functions. Among this mess of wires, monitors, and controls the Preventer Teens were fixated upon one green dot that moved across a black background in the screens that were set next to one another. The little green dot moved across the screen like a point of light from a lazer pointer. It moved to the farthest right of the screen where a section of a great red sphere took up a part of the screen. 

Slazyer had explained that the green dot was the incoming bogie. Unfortunately they don't know whom it belongs to or where it came from. All they know is that its composed of Gundanium, Titanium, one other unknown metal, and most of all, its not theirs.

The elevator doors opened and the first one to come out was Id the Lion. He came over and looked at the screens that Slayzer had set up.

"How long 'till it gets here?" He asked instantly

"From what I'm reading," Slayzer reported, "Approximately 5 minutes."

"If it is a mobile suit, then it's probably from the ones who attacked the Preventers."

William spoke out, "If it is, I say we go out there and kick its ass."

"Wait a minute." Julia interrupted, "If it was the enemy, then why send just one?"

"You've seen what they can do." William refuted, "All they'll need is just one to finish us off."

"But it leaves something out." Id pointed out to the Preventer Teens, "How do they know that we're a threat, if in fact they do see us as a threat? Even if that does hold up, how do they know that we're here?"

"That doesn't matter." William said, "We should go after that one."

"But you're forgetting something." Leto added

"What's that?"

"Our suits aren't ready."

"But mine is." Id volunteered, "I'll go out to meet it myself."

"Are you sure that's wise?" Slayzer asked

"If it is going to attack then I'll face it myself." Id said as he walked towards the unveiled Gundam Versago. "All I need you to do is open the hatch." 

"Ok."

Id had climbed into his proud achievement of Mobile Suit engineering, the Gundam Versago. It was true that he had added in the Mobile Trace System and had created his own jumpsuit. He began to shed his clothes within the cockpit feeling the cool air on his body coming from the hangar. Putting his clothes aside, Id had closed the cockpit door and started up the MTS, he watched the computer screens come on and he witnessed the three rings above him spin and began to come down over his head. He pushed his head through the hole in the rings that came down over him. His hair pulled through the ring and flowed down over the material of the suit. He felt the rubber/latex feeling of the suit against his skin as he pulled his arms and legs through it. The suit itself was completely black, except for the silver parts that adorned his shoulders and around his neck like a medieval knight. Then streaming around his body were bands of gold like decorative flames on the sides of a car. 

He took in a deep breath as the computer began to boot up and Id had tested out the system of the Versago, moving his arms left and right along with his legs. 

He opened up the COM system, 

"Slayzer." He called, "I'm ready. Open the hatch."

"Roger that." Slayzer said from the ground as he reached for a great handle that was situated on the same wall as the elevator, but was several feet away. He used all the strength in his right arm to pull it. As he did, the whole of the hangar was filled with the noise of gears moving like in belly of some great machine. Looking up Slayer watched as the ceiling shifted and sent down handfuls of the red dust of the Martian soil like rain. The ceiling opened up like a great garage door to the surface and from that came down the glorious sun, its rays of yellow showing through the red handfuls of Martian dust. As the doors opened, the eyes of the Gundam Versago blazed its green flames. It looked up and its engines blazed as it went up and up to the sky beyond. 

Slayzer shoved the lever back up and closing the hangar doors back up. He then brushed the grime off of his hands.

"Let's get back to work." He said.

* * *

In the skies above the Martian surface, the Gundam Versago was flying at the greatest speed his engines could put out towards the incoming bogie. He couldn't help but run through scenarios in his mind. If this approaching bogie were an enemy coming to kill him then he would have to react with force. The force of the Gundam Versago in the attack he had installed into that machine. If, on the other hand, this approaching thing was friendly, what then? It seemed so much easier to Id if it was an enemy at least it would give him a more clear cut course of action. Still, he had to be open to the possibilities that lay before him. 

He was coming close to the approaching object. He saw it as a tiny speck in the distance. The MTS magnified it and it was definitely a mobile suit, a model that Id had never seen before. His instincts told him to shoot and ask questions later, but something happened before he could even react. The approaching object spoke first.

"Hail." A very young voice said, "this is Kaworu Nagisa, formerly of the Silencers. I have a request to make."

"This is Id "the Lion" Kushrinada." Id responded, "Of the office of Preventer. State your request."

"I request to defect to the office of Preventer."

To be continued… 


	7. Preventer Suits Up

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Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, G-Gundam, any movies or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

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Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

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Mobile Suit Gundam Wing:

Children of the Gundam

****

Chapter 6: Preventer Suits Up

*

Kaworu had made it to the red planet Mars, through the T-shaped visor in his helmet he could see his goal. It was amazing that he actually escaped the Silencers base the way he did. It seemed as if all of it was natural, all he had to do was think, concentrate, and it all happened the way his minds eye envisioned it. Just like the lock to his room, it opened when he thought about it, the alarms didn't go off when he thought about it, and every door opened with his thoughts. Leaving the Silencers base was actually a miracle, an act of God that he was able to leave without being followed, captured, or at the most, killed. Every mile that he crossed was a grateful one, but he became even more so when he saw the approach of a Gundam. At first he didn't know who it was, but he didn't care, if it wasn't one of the Silencers, that was good enough for him. He reached down, opened the COM channel and took off his helmet to take away that metallic robotic voice he would get when the helmet was on. 

"Hail." He called, "This is Kaworu Nagisa formerly of the Silencers. I have a request to make. 

"This is Id "the Lion" Kushrinada." Id responded, "Of the office of Preventer. State your request."

"I request to defect to the office of Preventer."

As the two mobile suits of Kaworu Nagisa and Id the Lion approached each other Kaworu couldn't seem to explain what his mind was interpreting. In the low noise of the cockpit with only the rumble of the engines underneath him he could hear Id's voice. 

"What should I do if this isn't an enemy?" He said

"Don't shoot, for one." Kaworu answered back with a tone of humor in his voice

"What?" Id asked surprised, "I didn't say anything."

"Yes you did." Kaworu refuted, "You asked, _what should I do if this isn't an enemy._"

"I didn't say it." Id contended, "I was thinking it."

"I think we should meet face to face and talk this out."

"How do I know that your not just a singular enemy sent to kill?"

"Would they really send just one?" Kaworu asked, "Plus, how do you explain how I found you?"

Id could no longer argue, "How did you find us?"

Kaworu giggled, "Actually I was bluffing, I don't know how I found you. That's what's so strange with what's happening to me."

Id was looking at the Gundam Sentinel face to face, the distance was only a few meters apart and the two of them could if they desired blow each other to kingdom come. But, neither one drew their weapons, neither beam saber or beam gun. Id looked at his monitors and found that the Gundam in his sights had neither one of its weapons ready. The same could be said about him, he had none of his weapons ready. Id's fast beating heart that was ready to pounce if the Gundam in his sights so much as twitched. Yet in mind he sensed something trustworthy about the pilot, the same senses that he did use once a long time ago, but had lost its sharpness like a good knife that had been lost in a kitchen drawer. 

"Alright." Id cooperated, "I'll take you back to my base. But remember that we are armed."

"I mean you no harm." Kaworu reassured. 

* * *

Back at the base, the team that awaited Id the Lion to come back was astonished when they saw that he came back with another Gundam. One that none of them had ever seen a suit that was red from head to toe and looked as vicious as a shark with its sharp edges in its design. The first one to approach it was Kazuki who was very annoyed that an outsider had found their base. Then again, Kazuki was annoyed with Id when he showed the place to Birdy Cepheron. 

"Id!" Kazuki called up to the cockpit of the Gundam Versago, "Are you out of your mind!?"

The cockpit door opened and Id came out like a rabbit from its hole, "No, I am not." He said as he came down the lift cable from the cockpit to the ground and Id had explained the situation, "The pilot of this Gundam is defecting to Preventer."

"Nah, I don't buy that." Kazuki shook his head, "In cases of enemies that can make mince meat out of our friends, then the only good enemy is a dead one."

"Kazuki." Laramee came up behind him, "Let's hear what the pilot has to say."

"I agree with Laramee." Her good brother Slayzer supported

"Same here." Hikaru Yuy joined in the discussion, "If this guy wanted to kill us while he was in here, he would have done it by now."

"She has a point." Leto agreed

"Alright!" Kazuki flayed up his arms, "Let's hear what the pilot has to say."

"Good." Id turned to the Gundam Sentinel and cupped his mouth to make a crude megaphone, "Alright, Kaworu! You can come out now."

The cockpit door opened and from it came the strangest looking individual any of them had ever laid eyes upon. He was wearing some kind of armor; it covered his body from head to toe in gray shining metal with blue lining paint. Each piece of metal covered a part of his body by plates held together by cloth. A plate covered his pecks; several plates outlined his abdominal muscles, while several others covered their legs. At his hips were twin guns, one for each hand as if he was space-age gunslinger. Still, that wasn't the end of the armor that he wore, there was still the helmet, that was domed, smooth, and had a black t-shape down its front that was its visor. Then crowning this helmet was a small antenna like a cellular phone antenna that had been extended. 

The armored pilot of the Gundam climbed down to the lift cable and came down to the ground. As he looked out at the Preventer Teens, the Desbats and Id "the Lion" Kushrinada from behind his T-Shaped visor he could see the awe, amazement, and fear in their eyes. He lifted up his hands like a magician to show that there was nothing in them. He brought them to the side of his helmet and pulled it off. At first they didn't see his face as he shook his head freeing his hair from his helmet. The pilots' hair calmed down and that was when he looked out to the ones in front of him and smiled. 

"My name is Kaworu Nagisa." He said as he stepped forward to the nearest person. The nearest person to Kaworu happened to be Hikaru Yuy; "I humbly make my request to defect to the Office of Preventer."

Hikaru was confused as Kaworu's gloved hand reached out to her. She looked over at her friends wondering what she should do in such a situation. She looked to the faces of the Preventer Teens who looked just as confused as the Desbats. The only one who seemed to give her any kind of conformation of what to do was Id. Slowly he nodded his head to Hikaru as he thinly smiled. 

Hikaru reached out her hand to Kaworu, "Welcome to Preventer." She said

From that point on, Kaworu did quite a lot of explaining to everyone there. The details about the Silencers as well as the Dark Zodiac, it was as if Kaworu had been a spy for Preventer the whole time. He even gave them even better tactical information on the Silencers techniques. Of course Kazuki interrupted him and asked.

"Preventer already had the weaknesses to the metal, why were they defeated?" 

"Easy." Kaworu answered, "Because just knowing the weakness of the metal isn't enough in the case of the Silencers. You have to know their techniques, once you know their techniques as well as the weaknesses in the metal then you have the horses as well as the cart. The only reason why Preventer acted so quickly is because the Silencers were ready to move out, they had no choice and I can't blame them. Now, I'll continue."

Kaworu had spent the rest of the day, basically briefing the new Preventers on the techniques of the Silencers as well as the weaknesses in them. He also gave some tips and guidelines on the weaknesses each member had in hand to hand combat. The thinking was that if they get them into a hand to hand situation they should be prepared in case it does happen. 

At last the day came, when all of the Gundams were complete. It truly had been an arduous and tiresome process, but looking back through it the Preventer Teens did feel different about themselves. The training in mobile suit combat and hand to hand combat was extraordinary and all of it was done during the time that the Gundams were being built. 

"It's time." Id said looking at the Gundams lined up like toy soldiers against the far end of the hangar next to his Gundam Versago. He looked at them from his left to the far right where the Versago sat. The first was the Mobile Suit that would be piloted by Hikaru Peacecraft Yuy, the Gundam Phoenix. 

As he looked at it, the Gundam Phoenix had the body that was very similar to the Gundam Wing Zero Custom with its chest protruding out with its singular lens. Its shoulders having three plates stacked upon one another. Yet it had several differences, its wings looked very different than those of the Wing Zero Custom, each wing was composed of three pieces that when they were spread out they spread apart from each other. In other words, its wings were like those of Domon Kasshu's God Gundam. The biggest differences were the colors of the Gundam, instead of the regular red, white, blue, and yellow, the Gundam Phoenix had the colors of the flame, red, orange, yellow, and where the lenses were green they were blue like the hottest part of the flame. It did fit for Hikaru since her nickname was "Firebird" and like her father before her the Gundam Phoenix had the double barrel beam rifle, but this one had something else inside it that would surprise the enemy.

Next to the Gundam Phoenix was the suit that would belong to William Maxwell, the Gundam Shade. This one was similar to Duo's Gundam DeathScythe in how the body looked like the Grim Reaper himself with the Gundanium ribcage and the cockpit door in the center of it. It also has the colors of the old DeathScythe with black, white, and a little red even for the optics of the Gundam to give it an even scarier look. Unlike the DeathScythe, this one doesn't have the same type of wings, but rather it has the wings of the old Gundam Epyon. That aside, the Gundam Shade had a new type of active cloak, this one renders the Gundam invisible to all means, heat, radar, sonar, and the naked eye. The suit also has a new sound system called, "Infra-sound" in which it can listen to what's going on inside a building, ship, or any structure, but only to a distance of 20 meters. It does make the suit more like a reconnaissance suit, but that doesn't exactly make it weak. It does have its weapons, such as the signature beam scythe, but it also has a new weapon. It's a combination between the old shield of the DeathScythe and the Dragon Fang of the Gundam Altron. The shield looks like the DeathScythe shield, but when fired it goes right after the enemy by means of a homing system. But that's not the end of it, as it closes in, it opens up its claws and wraps itself around the enemy target and then the finishing move, a beam of energy extends from it and thus impales the enemy. 

Then there was the suit that would be used by Paul Marquise, the Gundam Storm. The name was derived from the nicknames that Paul and his father, Zechs, had. The Lightning Count and the Lightning Prince, so that's how the name came about. Though the suit itself it more like a protection unit, but it is extraordinarily fast considering its bulk. It had been designed after all three Tallgeese models, such as its body and paint colors (of light blue) are much like the Tallgeese II, but its head is more like a combination of the Tallgeese I and III. In the bulk of this suit it has three "Planet Defensers", which are three large hovering disks that emit a small defensive shield powerful enough to withstand several blasts from the Wing Zero's buster rifle. Thus the creation of two beam sabers in this suit, one from its side and the other from one of the "planet defensers". For its own type of firepower, the Gundam Storm had twin sets of triple cannon gattling guns. As was suspected, it was a small feature that was added in by the Silencer, Trowa Barton. 

The next two belonged to the Rodriguez twins; the first was to be piloted by Leto Peacecraft Rodriguez, the Gundam Fox. The design of the Gundam Fox both in its body and weapons were very experimental. Its body looked very similar to that of the God Gundam with the domed shaped chest over the eye that was concealed within but had wings like that of the original Wing Gundam. But in the case of the Gundam Fox, the main optical lens wasn't concealed; it was exposed like an open eye. It was in this eye where the secret weapon lay. This weapon was only known as "the Projector", what this weapon would do is that it would project very realistic holograms at certain distances from the Gundam. So when used right, the Gundam Fox would appear in one place and then appear in another. This would be used to distract the enemy while the real Gundam Fox would make the sneak attack. It does quite fit the expression, "sneaky as a fox". This suit also has another extra special weapon, it's the beam saber. It was a little larger and thicker than the normal saber, which is because of the fact that it can change into a beam boomerang. All it does is take a small 90-degree turn in its design and thus the beam boomerang is created. 

Then there was the one to be piloted by Julia Peacecraft Rodriguez, the Gundam Falcon. It was a suit that was purely designed for speed, so therefor it was very light in its armaments but its engine capacity is triple that of any other Gundam. Though this does not make the Gundam defenseless. It does have its armaments, such as the shield, a beam saber, and a small singular barreled beam rifle. Especially a small secret weapon, the beam arrow in which the energy doubles when the beam rifle joins with the shield. The way it works is that the rifle joins with the shield and the Gundam uses it like a bow. Pulling back on the back part of the rifle like a draw string, the rifle gathers up twice the amount of power and when released its twice as devastating. The only catch to this weapon was that it took a long time for the barrel to cool down before it could be shot again. For if it were fired too many times back to back, it could exploded both the shield and rifle, along with the suit if the pilot didn't act quickly. The Gundam Falcon had the body of the Epyon but more streamlined, and had the wings like the Wing Zero. Yet it had triple the amount of engines and a set of reverse thrusters mounted within its chest. This Gundam also has bird mode similar to that of the Gundam Phoenix, but it moves twice as fast as when it's in mobile suit mode. 

The last suit to I'd Gundam Versago was the one that had the least amount of changes to it. It was the Gundam Sentinel that was piloted by Kaworu Nagisa. The suit was repainted white, the mobile trace system was also installed into it, and Kaworu decided to call it a new name. He decided to call it the Gundam Angel. The reasons behind it weren't exactly clear to the others, but Kaworu had his own reasons, which Id had respected. 

* * *

It was late at night when Id was looking up at the Mobile Suits, all of them, The Gundams Phoenix, Shade, Storm, Fox, Falcon, Angel, and Versago. All of them were ready to fight, even the Preventer Teens, in all their time that they had been on Mars they were ready to fight while their parents were still healing back on Colony L-1. Id himself had a very good idea of what it was like to be a parent, at least a parent to some very special children. Looking at the Gundams in the hangar, Id didn't heard the footsteps behind him. At least not until they were almost on top of him. 

"Penny for your thoughts again?" the voice of Birdy said behind Id the Lion. 

Id smiled, "You know if you keep doing that I'll probably be a millionaire before the year is out." 

Birdy just came up behind him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and laid her head upon Id's back. She swayed herself trying to get Id to sway with her as if there was a slow dance going on between them in that dingy hangar. Id allowed himself to sway along with Birdy as he continued to look at the Gundams. 

"I wish you wouldn't have to go into battle." 

"I have to, Birdy." Id said as he continued to sway slowly with her, "I can't just send those kids out there all alone. I'm the most experienced of them all. Kaworu may be experienced from the Silencers but he's still only a boy. I _have _to go."

Birdy squeezed her arms around Id tighter than before. The two continued to sway as Id continued to stare at the new Preventer Gundams. 

* * *

It was morning and the troops of the new Preventer were ready to mobilize. All of the Preventer Teens (including Kaworu Nagisa) were standing straight up like a military inspection line. Each one stood in front of his or her own Gundam, except for Id the Lion. He walked up and down in front of them like a General surveying his troops before battle. Yet, Id was never like those roughneck tough-as-nails types. He knew the kind of fear that goes into battle, that sickening feeling in the pit of the stomach of what may or may not happen. This was more about them, Id thought. 

"I have something for all of you." He said to the New Preventers, "Some were made here while the others were sent here."

The New Preventers didn't know what to make of this. They watched as Id walked over to one of the tall toolboxes and brought out an enormous briefcase. It was long enough to place a good length sword into it. He opened up the long black leather briefcase and he took out the first object from it. He walked over to Hikaru and held it out.

"Hikaru Peacecraft Yuy." He said, "I give you this, one Preventer Standard Issue Beam Saber."

Hikaru looked down into Id's hands at its long silvery shaft with the decoration of lights and one large red button towards on end of it. She reached out and took it. She held it up with the end that had a slant to it as opposed to the flat end. She pressed the button and out came a beam of blue light. She and the other Preventers were mesmerized by its light, but that was when Hikaru pressed the button again and brought the blue light back into her saber. She took the saber by the D-ring at its flat end and placed it at her side where it hung by a special clip. 

By the time she placed it at her side, Id had brought out the next weapon to Paul Marquise. It was just like Hikaru's in shape, design, and in the beam color. Paul had placed his saber into his clip, while Id brought out the next weapon to William Maxwell. 

William was surprised to say the least when he saw Id bring out a cloth and belt covered cross to him. He took the cross off his shoulder and handed it to William who took it feeling the lightweight in his hands. 

"Damn, this thing is light." He said weighing it in his arms.

"That's because of the light metals in making it." Id had told William

"This one is designed after the one that your father has. Here." Id took the Cross-Punisher for a moment and held on of the belt clips, it clicked open, and all the belts came off of the cross and the cloth flowing behind them. Standing up from the pile of belts and canvas was a shimmering Cross-Punisher. Id held it up horizontally so that William could see his name inscribed in it side. Leaving the canvas and belts on the floor, Id handed the Cross-Punisher over to William. He knew everything that there was to know about it since his dad showed it to him once and how it was used. Duo had even promised that one day the Cross-Punisher would be handed down to him, but William didn't think that the day would come so soon. He took back the Cross-Punisher and held it at his side while Id brought the last of the weapons out.

He went to Julia Peacecraft Rodriguez, he held out the beam weapon. Julia saw that it was different in some way to the others. She noticed that the weapon seemed to be a little longer and a little thicker than the others are, but why was it?

"This one is a little different." Id explained, "This one was designed by your mother."

"It was?" Julia asked looking at the beam weapons odd design as Id handed it to her. She looked at the red button and pressed it to see a beam of purple light spring out of it. After looking at the beam she pressed the button again and brought back the beam into the saber. 

"From what your mother told me," Id explained, "This saber can transform into an entirely different weapon." 

"How?" Julia asked as she examined every inch of her saber. 

"Turn the D-Ring." Id instructed, "Turn it clockwise."

Julia turned the beam saber over and saw the D-Ring lying against the metal. She grabbed hold of it like the ring of a soda can and twisted it clockwise. She felt a sharp click in the beam saber like the gears inside a jack-in-the-box. She was amazed as the beam saber popped open. Its casing split open as two parts rose outwards from the main saber. Both parts rose together like the petals of a blooming flower. From those parts were metallic strings that were still attached to the original part of the saber. It was then when the bow of the saber spread outward that Julia saw how the beam saber had become a beam-bow. She gripped the bottom arc that extended from the saber while in the top part of the arc Julia saw a small hole. In that hole she saw what looked like a targeting system. 

"To fire it," Id instructed, "You pull back on the D-Ring as if it was a draw string. Then wait for 5-seconds as the miniature cannon in the beam emitter charges. Despite the charge wait, you can fire multiple discharges. There's also a beam control knob on the bottom arc, where you can control the thickness of the beam from being very wide to being as narrow as pencil lead."

"Nice." Julia smiled as she examined the bow, "but how do you turn it back?"

"Turn the D-Ring counterclockwise until you hear a click, then it'll go back to a beam saber."

Julia took the D-ring once again and did just as Id instructed she turned it until she heard a sharp click once again. Then he beam bow became a saber once again.

"Now, for you Leto." Id smiled as he brought out another odd looking beam saber. As Leto looked at it he saw what looked like a half-circle cut into the sabers casing. And it was located very near the beam emitter. 

"What does this one do?" He asked somewhat impatiently

"This one, Leto." Id began to explain, "Was designed by your father. Twist the D-ring like Julia's and yours becomes a beam boomerang."

"Cool." Leto smiled as he activated his beam saber seeing its green color. 

"Once it becomes a beam boomerang and you throw it at your target, you need to control it. Thus the reason for this." Id brought out a simple looking wristwatch.

"A watch?" Leto asked in disbelief

"Hold out your left arm." Id said

Leto complied as Id placed the watch on Leto's wrist, "This isn't just a watch. It's also a control device; it is link with your saber. That way when you throw the saber you can control it."

"Ok." Leto said as he finally understood how it all worked. "So, it transforms in the same way as Julia's?"

"Yes." Id nodded

Leto took the D-Ring and twisted it. He heard the same click, and waited as the top of the beam saber made a sharp turn downwards. That was when Leto realized what that half-circle cut in the casing was for. It allowed the beam emitter to make a 135-degree angle; he could easily see how it was a beam boomerang. He twisted the D-ring counterclockwise to bring it back to a beam saber and deactivated the beam. 

"Last, but not least." Id announced, "Our latest member, Kaworu Nagisa. I give you this."

Kaworu looked into Id's hands to find his very own beam saber. He took it and looked at its color of red, much like the color of his eyes. He held onto the saber feeling the high pitched hum coming from within it. 

"I thank you." Kaworu said to Id as he pressed the button that sheathed the beam. 

"There is one last thing." Id announced, "Since all of you are technically acting Preventer Officers, I need you to take the Preventers Oath."

No one said anything 

"Please raise your right hand." Id dictated as he himself rose his own hand, "Please repeat after me, take in the words and try to understand what they mean.

The oath began. 

Id said one line at a time while the new Preventers repeated them.

_I am a defender of the World Nation._

I am the protector of the people.

I will put out small flames before they become fires

I will be swift, silent, and mute.

I will protect my brothers and sisters for they shall protect me.

I will never surrender.

I will fight to the death

So that Earth and Space may live in peace.

I am an officer of Preventer. 

Id had instructed…no, it was as if he was pleading them to think carefully about the words in the pledge. All of them had one part or another that seemed to strike them in a certain way.

For Hikaru, it was the line "I will never surrender". She always had known herself to be very obstinate, stubborn, as well as resilient. She never gave up until she had her way about a certain situation. Needless to say she was a rambunctious child to her mother and father. Still, it was that drive of never giving up that had kept her going.

William, on the other hand, it was the line; "I am a protector of the people". That changed something else inside him. He seemed to think more about himself as he thought back on his own life. That was his own kind of growing up, to think about the welfare of others. Perhaps, it was the enormity of seeing his father in the hospital that made him think that if something wasn't done, then it could be another kid in that same situation. It was that coupled with that line of "I am a protector of the people" that had shook William Maxwell to his core. 

In the case of Paul Marquise, there wasn't a lot of growing up for him to do. He always seemed to be the most adult among them. Then Paul thought about that maturity, he thought back to his early life. He really didn't have that much of a childhood. Even as a boy he was already acting like an adult. Perhaps he was too much of an adult at such a young age to try to have fun as a boy. Still, he couldn't well on the past, he had a duty to perform, and he intended to carry it out with that last line: "I am an officer of Preventer". 

Then there was Julia and Leto, and despite the fact that they were twins the oath had different effects on them. For Julia the entire oath made an effect on her because of the responsibility that she knew would go into this new role. It seemed to be such a transformation; it was only a month ago that her only big concern was school and dating. Then by a twist of fate she had become a Gundam pilot.

For Leto, the line of "I shall fight to the death" had a double impact on him. It wasn't too huge of a mystery that he didn't want to die, but to help the cause it seemed to serve the need. Plus it was that predominant memory of when he asked his father to teach him to fight, but his father refused until he understood that fighting is used to protect and defend others. Leto understood what his father meant more than ever as he took the oath. 

For the newest member Kaworu, everything about his former life seemed to come back to him. He knew the sacrifices that are taken and he had already made an ultimate sacrifice before, but could he bring himself to do it again in this life? Before he could give himself an answer Id had made one last announcement.

"All of you are now Officers of Preventer." He smiled like the proud teacher that he was.

"ID!!!" A voice boomed out

Id turned quickly and looked to the back of the hangar. Above all the boxes, crates, tools, and left over parts with metal were the Desbats. All of them were crammed around a small monitor in the corner. 

"What is it?" Id called out

"We've got company! Three bogies heading to Mars, their not regular traffic and scans show that their made out of Gundanium!" 

Id turned around to the New Preventers

"You heard him, Officers." He smirked, "Let's move out!"

"Mission accepted!" The New Preventers all said in unison

To be continued… 


	8. The New Preventer

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Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, G-Gundam, any movies or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

****

Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

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Mobile Suit Gundam Wing:

Children of the Gundam

****

Chapter 7: The New Preventer

*

The order had been given, the enemy was close, the Gundams were finished, and the pilots ready. With the prospect of the Silencers drawing close, the new Preventers didn't hesitate as they climbed into their cockpits. Each cockpit was in the normal mode of the cockpit chair with the controls at the pilots' hands, feet, and fingertips. Then there was that one last feature; it was that rectangular pad that was stripped red and white. The instruction was to open it, flip all the switches inside, and press the red button. All of the New Preventers had done this, the cockpit controls and seat sank back as the three rings of the Mobile Trace system came online. They came down on each member as if it were the first time. The smell of the MTS suit material filled the cockpit as they were covered in it. That new rubber with fresh plastic smell as they donned their own designs as individual as their Gundams. 

Inside the Gundam Phoenix, Hikaru pulled through the material as her perky figure came through with the MTS ring pulling down over her she saw her red suit with the blazing orange sun on her chest. For William Maxwell in the Gundam Shade he pulled his ponytail out from under the white material of his MTS suit while he looked down at his sleek white design with the black crow on his chest. Then Paul Marquise quickly suited up in his completely blue suit that had the small white lightning bolt upon his chest. Leto Peacecraft Rodriguez had gotten through the material, anxious for battle, he felt very empowered in his orange suit with the face of a silver fox upon it. But Julia grunted on thing to herself as her suit came over her.

"I won't loose because I'm a woman." And her suit came down over her in its colors of red and black. 

Kaworu Nagisa's suit was a combination of black, dark gray, and navy blue. It was made by Kaworu's request, and as he looked at it, the suit reminded him of his old Eva plug suit. Yet, upon his chest there was no symbol, no number, and no shape. There were only the colors he had picked in the style and pattern of his old plug suit. 

Id's suit was black, with gold trim, and silver plates around his neck and shoulders like a proverbial knight. As he pushed his way through the material and the last ring came down to his feet. The MTS booted up and all was green. 

"Kazuki, open the hatch." Id ordered

Kazuki complied

"Everyone move out!"

And the new Preventers launched. 

* * *

Out in space near the red planet of Mars, the Silencers were on their way. Their reason was to find their missing member, Kaworu Gavrich. It was truly strange to them that it took several days to figure out that Kaworu was missing. On the other hand all the halls; rooms, and so on, were monitored. The whole thing was a mystery. Was he kidnapped? Did he leave on his own? If so, how did he elude the security? Why was his suit taken? And most of all why did he leave? These were all very good questions the Silencers faced as they tried to race Kaworu's Gundam. The last signal they traced was in the Mars capital City, Red Sky. As they were tracking it, the signal had quit. The reason to why was still a mystery.

"I still think that he was kidnapped." The macho Ivan Danko snarled in his robotic voice from under his helmet.

"But why?" Anton Simeonov, the human calculator asked, "He was catatonic. What would they gain from him?"

"Incoming." Angelina Lestat smiled as her radar reported seven objects approaching them at high speeds. 

"They seem to be mobile suits." Angelina assessed

"How could there be anymore?" Anton wondered, "We obliterated them all."

"No matter." Ivan smirked, "I'll just go down and fight them myself."

He flew downward towards the Martian orbit and in his screens he could see the mobile suits coming at him with his own eyes. That was when his screen zoomed in and found them. Seven separate mobile suits, all of them Gundams. Four of them were in Mobile Suit mode, while three of them were in what looked like a bird mode similar to that of the Gundam Wing Zero. Ivan looked down at his readings to see how much longer it would be until he would encounter them head on. It was now only a matter of seconds. Then his eyes couldn't believe what he saw. He saw three of the mobile suits start to transform a very similar way that the Gundam Sentinels of the Silencers would. Then there was just that one Gundam that he saw that really struck terror through him, for the first time in his life he felt fear. And he didn't like it. 

Ivan Danko as well as the rest of the Silencers had seen a suit that transformed in the exact same way as the Gundam Sentinel. Except this suit was white. How did they get their hands on the plans for the Gundam Sentinel? And most of all who was piloting that suit?

The answer came more readily then what they wanted.

"Hello old friends." A very familiar voice called out to them in audio only form.

"Kaworu Gavrich." Angelina asked in fear

"Yes." Kaworu smiled from within the Gundam Angel

"You bastard!" Ivan spat from within his helmet, "You traitor, Kaworu Gavrich."

"Do not call me that." Kaworu asked calmly, "My name is Kaworu Nagisa!"

"Get ready, Silencers." Hikaru Peacecraft Yuy said as she cracked her knuckles, "We're the new Preventers and we're here to kick your ass." 

The first to make the first wave attack was the Gundam Storm, piloted by Paul Marquise. He came at the Silencers in full speed ready for anything. For Paul his heart was racing while he watched, as the Silencers were standing ready with an army of mobile dolls were behind them. 

"Alright." Ivan smirked seeing the first one charge into battle, "Fresh meat for the grinder. Virgo mobile dolls, attack the approaching mobile suit."

Paul watched the Virgo mobile dolls come at him like insects that were growing larger with each passing moment. He tried to keep his mind focused upon what was important in the situation, the defeat of the Silencers. He repeated this to himself as he watched the first few Virgo's charge up their particle cannons, they were about to fire when Paul's planet defensers came online. Strangely though, Paul never had to call for them…he just had to think of them protecting him from the attacks and then there they were. The shots fired from the Virgo's rolled off of the shield that the defensers had generated like raindrops dripping down a window. 

Paul felt saved when the defensers came online and his confidence grew as he took one of the defensers. It was the one that was the thickest, which was the very one that had his beam saber. With the saber in his hand he sliced through he Virgo mobile dolls like a lumberjack on speed. As he was finished with the first set of Virgo mobile dolls, he allowed his beam saber/defenser to drift back into its place among the others. His confidence grew even further as he brought out his twin triple barrel machine guns and aimed them at the next wave.

"You like that?" Paul asked, "How about this? HAIL STORM!"

From the barrels of his gun came out a storm of energy blasts that ripped through the Virgo's energy shields and their hulls like paper targets. For a brief moment, it didn't even feel like battle to Paul, more like a game in an arcade or perhaps a shooting range. 

"Hey!" Hikaru called out from the sidelines, "Let someone else have a turn!"

Paul felt like a kid being torn away from his favorite ride by a parent who wanted to leave. He brought the Gundam Storm back to where the others were. That was when Hikaru Peacecraft Yuy came out to the battlefield in space. She was ready for whatever they were going to do, but she was going to make the first move. She made the Gundam Phoenix, in its mobile suit form bring about the beam rifle. The rifle began to charge up its particles at the end. It burned yellow and orange together like the hottest fire. 

"That old trick your father used?" Anton laughed, "Please, it would take a beam rifle approximately 3.9999999 times as powerful as your fathers to fight us. And you have no such weapon"

"Watch me!" Hikaru smiled, "This is the attack of the Firebird! PHOENIX FLAME!"

Out from the barrel of the beam rifle, came a beam of orange light and it was nearly upon the three Sentinel mobile suits, but most of them got out of the way. Well, at least some of them. The one unfortunate one who had the left arm of the suit caught in the beam, was Anton the very person who was mocking the Gundam Phoenix. 

"You missed!" Anton taunted until he looked at the Gundams left arm. Then he realized the grievous error that he made. 

"Oh yeah?" Id asked, "If you didn't like that then how about this?"

The Gundam Versago came out to meet the Gundam Sentinels and the three of them were in a mini-standoff, at least until Id made the first move. He held out the arms of the Versago and they snapped out at the Gundam Sentinels like the tongue of a chameleon. It was only due to some great luck and quick maneuvering that the two Sentinels that were targeted were made it out alive. They looked back and saw that the Versago's arms were like that of the Gundam Nataku. 

"You still missed." Angelina taunted

"Didn't like that one, either?" Id asked, "Then try this one on."

The Silencers watched as the Gundam Versago had split itself at the waist. Then the chest and legs separated from each other only to reveal a cannon that was concealed between them. It was so incredible to the Silencers that they didn't make the fast connection that their highly trained minds were supposed to make when Id's chest cannon was charging. 

"Here's my attack!" Id smirked, "LIONS ROAR!"

And the beam fired from the Gundam Versago, and it was the bright light that brought the Silencers back to reality and forces them to dodge their way out of this mess. Only this time, when the Silencers were trying to escape the path of the beam the legs of their Gundams were caught in the attack.

After the light had vanished the new Preventers saw how crippled the Sentinels were without their legs. 

"Looks like you won't be able to transform into Claw mode." Kaworu pointed out

In desperation, Angelina made the call back to the base, "Back up! Send back up now! Send out all suits! Repeat! We need back up! Send out all suits now!" 

"Oh yeah?" William taunted, "Bringing in back up? Well in that case, try to fight us on the ground!"

The Gundam Shade was the first to head down to the Martian surface with the others following. He then managed to turn the Gundam Shade around and have it stick up both middle fingers on the Gundams hands. 

"What's the matter?" He asked, "Are you too scared of us now?"

Just seeing the gesture made by a Gundam and on the first try was enough to make Ivan Danko furious about the situation. The legs of his Gundam had been torn off and all the while the New Preventers were laughing in his face. He was mad…no he was furious about this. In all the time that he used the Gundam he was in he had never lost his battles and now he lost it to them. 

"They're dead!" He screamed as he was about to make the descent after them. 

"Wait!" Angelina called out, "Let's wait for backup! They'll be here in a few minutes!"

"Hell with backup! I'm going down!"

Angelina couldn't do anything about it because she knew that from what she had witnessed, these new Preventers were more than they could handle. Despite all her training she knew when the fight was a lost cause. She was furious on the inside, but what could she do about it? 

It was several minutes before anything happened

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Angelina looked in her rear-view screen and saw an army of mobile suits coming at them. All of them were the mobile dolls of the Silencers. 

"Good." She smiled, "Attention all mobile dolls! Follow me!"

She and Anton headed after Ivan Danko who was desperately trying to keep up with the new Preventers as they braved the friction of the atmosphere. 

* * *

The New Preventers headed down to the Martian surface. Into a part of the planet that was far from any city that was colonized on that world. It was a place that was aptly named "The Devil's Backyard", so named from the canyons that were deeper than the Grand Canyon, the mountainous rocks that were larger than mountains, and peaks higher than Mount Everest. The way the Devil's Backyard was set up was that around the area were a vast ellipse or a rough circle of mountains that were jagged, smooth, extinct volcanoes, and high peaks. Running through the center in a swerve like a meandering snake was a deep canyon. It didn't run down the center of the vast rough circle of mountains, it came in at sharp turns and made even sharper turns as it made its way out of the circle. Covering the area within it was a maze of tall rocks as big as Gundams. It was as if the Devil's Backyard was a battleground for Martian giants. This was the base of their traps. 

As the squad came down into the Devils Backyard, Id gave the signal to them all. 

"Split up!" He signaled and all of the Preventers had hid themselves all over the landscapes. Some hid within the canyon, some hid behind the rocks, but only one was brave enough to stand out in the open. The one who was brave enough for such a task was Kaworu Nagisa. He stood out in the open and looked up to the pink Martian sky and saw the Silencers descend upon him with all of the Mobile Dolls behind them like an army of divine retribution.

"Come at me." Kaworu whispered to himself

The army came closer and Kaworu saw the three Silencers on the front lines like Generals charging ahead of battle before their troops. At least that's what he saw at first, until he saw the first group of mobile dolls come down at them. It was the Virgo type mobile dolls. He opened his arms and said to the mobile dolls.

"Come and get me!" And then he started up his engine and started into the canyon, where the mobile dolls followed him. Yet, the canyon was so deep, with so many rocks sticking out that it was like the inside of a dragons mouth. The mobile dolls tried to follow him and tried to figure but it was no use. It only managed to free a few rocks from the canyon and they landed on the first division of Virgo mobile dolls. That was when Kaworu hid within the canyon away from the eyes of the Silencers. 

Angelina watched the explosions from afar as she sent the first wave of mobile dolls. She grew even more frustrated as she was about to send in the next wave of mobile dolls, but that was when one of the New Preventers showed himself. It came up from under one of the rocks and waved to the Silencers. It was the Gundam Fox, the one that belonged to the pilot Leto Peacecraft Rodriguez. Angelina saw her chance and sent down the mobile dolls after but then something happened, another Gundam Fox appeared from behind a rock, and then another, and another, until there were several copies of Gundam Fox all over the Devils Backyard. 

"FOX MIRAGE!" Leto made his attack clear and then he taunted the Silencers, "May I have your attention please? May I have your attention please? Would the real Gundam Fox please stand up? I repeat, would the real Gundam Fox please stand up?"

"Enough of this child's play!" Ivan Danko said as he brought out his beam rifle and aimed down at the Devil's backyard hoping he would hit the right one. 

"You really want to know the real me?" Leto asked, "I'm right here." 

They looked and saw all the copies of the Gundam Fox raise their beam cannons and fired. Yet, only one hit the target of the remaining Virgo Mobile Dolls. The problem from the Silencers point of view was that there were so many flashes from the Gundam Fox copies that no one actually saw which one fired the shot.

"Damn it." Ivan cursed as he looked down and around, but saw nothing but rocks, red Martian rocks. The fury and frustration burned him so much that he was beginning to sweat underneath his helmet. 

On the ground behind the rocks, each member of Preventer maintained COM silence in order to hide their positions. Kazuki Peacecraft and Id the Lion had carefully planned the attack, basically it was to lure them to the Devils Backyard and confuse them enough to take out their suits. 

"Come out and face us!" Ivan dared the new Preventers, "Cowards!"

"Since you asked so nicely." The voice of Julia Peacecraft Rodriguez said in a dry humorous tone, "I'll show myself." 

Out from the peaks, valleys, and rocks of the Devils Backyard came the Gundam Falcon. It rose from the Martian rocks with its beam rifle and its shield. 

The impatient Ivan Danko relished with seeing a Gundam coming at him with such bravery or rather blind stupidity. He loved this situation even further since it was a woman who answered; it would be an easy target for him.

"Mobile dolls, attack!" Angelina ordered

The next and last wave of mobile dolls came after the Gundam Falcon. They sped across the Devil's Backyard like lizards on hot rocks. It was one disadvantage the mobile dolls had; they couldn't recognize danger. Otherwise they would have seen the actions the Gundam Falcon was taking. Julia had placed the beam rifle inside the buster shield. As she did, the shield had taken the same actions as her personal beam saber, the sides of the shield has split apart and came up like the arcs of a bow. As she was in the MTS, Julia took the back of the shield and pulled back.

Still the mobile dolls didn't recognize the danger as the particles from the buster rifle began to change. Even the silencers were dumbfounded by what was taking place and they did nothing. 

"FALCONS ARROW!" Julia cried out as the beam shot out and consumed all the mobile dolls that the Silencers had left. 

The flash from Julia's attack was the same as the flash afterimage from a Polaroid camera. The first shock was white to the naked eyes of those who witnessed it. Then the light became a purple flash within the corneas of the Silencers. It was only within a matter of a minute or so when the light had cleared and the Silencers saw that there was nothing left of the last mobile doll troops left. 

"We've lost." Angelina sulked back in her cockpit chair

"Damnit!" Ivan cursed, "Where are you! Come out and face us! Stop this hiding!"

As he cursed out at the New Preventers he heard a suddenly laughing. The laughing was coming through his speakers in the cockpit, but at the same time if felt like the maniacal laughing was coming from everywhere. Its voice was unlike anything that his ears had ever heard. The laughing that came from nowhere was metallic, cruel, and dark. So much darker than anything Ivan could ever imagine. Somewhere underneath the metallic body armor and underneath his helmet there was still something human that cringed in fear. 

"What's the matter?" The voice asked, "Can't find me can you? Then allow The Crow to show himself…_DEATHS HAND!"_

After the voice had spoken to the Silencers something appeared in front of them. It was a pair of eyes. They contrasted highly against the pink Martian sky as they floated evenly and effortlessly. They looked down at the Silencers with an eerie and piercing red hue, a menacing shade of red that seemed to contain an evil soul of their own. When all of the Silencers stared at them…_they were afraid_. All of their physical and mental training that they had seemed to vanish within those eyes and around the eyes it seemed as if an image was melting through them. Above them they saw a great beam, it burned across the sky in a sickening pale green haze. It was like the blade of a scythe. It curved downward to be used by a farmer to cut his crop. The fear had made the Silencers freeze in terror as the rest of the image of this fearsome creature faded into a Gundam with wings that were like a devil and a face like death itself. 

The Gundam Shade had revealed itself and William was about to do his task. With the holographic image of the beam scythe in his hands he rose it up over his head and sliced at the Gundam Sentinels.

"This is for my father!" William screamed

The sickening pale green color of the scythe came down on the Silencers and within their cockpits they watched helplessly as the Gundam Shade made mincemeat out of them. He sliced off their arms, their heads and what was left of their legs. 

The Silencers did nothing, only witnessed as their computers displayed the damages.

Arms: Damaged/Offline

Legs: Damaged/Offline

Head: Damaged/Offline

Transformation ability: Inoperable

COM Systems: Offline

Weapons: Offline 

They all looked and found the Gundam that had appeared out of nowhere suddenly vanished as easily as it had appeared in front of them. Its visage had blended into the Martian background as its task had been done. Then Angelina saw something that brought her courage and command back.

Warning: Propulsion Failing

"We have to land!" Angelina contacted the other Silencers, "Now!"

Her commanding voice broke through the fear that froze both the muscle bound Ivan Danko and the Human Calculator Anton Simeonov. The three of them knew that the situation was desperate immediately after reading about the damage on their screens. For that moment, the situation didn't feel real that this wasn't actually happening, but it was. All of them had made the move and landed in the far end of the Devils Backyard. With their armor on and their pulsar blasters at their sides they headed out into the maze of rocks. 

As the three of them leapt from their cockpits they had a small visage of their Gundams. They weren't even suits anymore; all that was left was only the chest cavity. From the ports where the arms, legs, and head were, there were only holes with multitudes of wires sprawling out like snakes and arching across each other. The situation was capped off by seeing all the damage. They were up against a group they weren't prepared for.

To be continued… 


	9. Rats in the Maze

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Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, G-Gundam, any movies or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

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Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

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Mobile Suit Gundam Wing:

Children of the Gundam

****

Chapter 8: Rats in the Maze

*

The New Preventer had seen the Silencers land, or at least that's what William Maxwell had reported on the new COM channel. This was their version of Radio Silence, using a very special channel that was developed by Valos who oversaw the developments of all the Gundams. He felt that in such covert situations the team still needed to communicate with each other so he invented a new type of COM system that used a different wavelength. William had reported.

"The Silencers suits are down." He smiled

"Good work." Id had complemented, "Now is the time to face them in hand to hand combat. Everyone get ready."

"Right." The New Preventers acknowledged and suited up in a very different way. 

William Maxwell had gotten out the very special Cross-Punisher that was designed by his father. The others got out their beam weapons as well as a very unique weapon that was designed by Kazuki and Id, a little gift for the New Preventers. Each of them had gotten out of their MTS suits and into combat clothes designed for Mars, in other words Martian camouflage. They knew that the Silencers couldn't take their Gundams. The reason behind this was because of the cockpit system, only one who had been trained enough in how to use it would know what to do. Otherwise, someone not knowing enough would simply break every bone in his or her body trying to harness it. With the knowledge of the security in mind they went out to meet the Silencers face to face. 

* * *

"I think we should stay together." Angelina said to her comrades

"Why is that?" Ivan asked as he brought out both of his pulsar blasters like twin six guns.

"If we separate, it'll play in their favor." She explained, "There's no telling what they have planned for us in here."

"I see the logic." Anton took Angelina's side, "This place is probably booby-trapped and it is also possible that they know this place better than we do."

"So what do we do?" Ivan asked rather annoyed

Angelina looked at the terrain around her from behind the black T-shaped cut in her helmet. It truly was the Devil's Backyard from a ground point of view. All the rocks seemed impossible to climb; jagged and sharp. The only paths that lay before them were three, left, right and center. All of them cutting through the rocks like game paths by some unknown Martian animal. She then took the antenna from her helmet and pulled it down over her visor. Inside it she could see the terrain but she also tried to find any heat signatures that would indicate to her that the Preventers were close. She received no sign, so she allowed herself to guess. She looked down the paths, and she looked left. 

"Let's go this way." She said as she drew out her blasters with her fingers on the triggers ready to fire. She walked down the left path with her comrades following behind both with their targeting computers on inside their helmets and their guns ready to kill anything that moved. 

* * *

The Preventers saw their chance. They knew where they were coming from and what paths they were going to take. It was part of their training during the one-month that they had been on Mars to know that part of the red planet. With all the paths that had so many twists and turns in them it seemed so easy to get them to loose their sense of direction. This is when they would employ their greatest task of "divide and conquer". 

Since there were three Silencers, the Preventers divided themselves up into three groups. 

"Leto, Julia, you'll come with me and we'll be Gold Team." Id commanded, "Hikaru and Paul, you'll be Blue Team. And William and Kaworu, you'll be Red Team. All of you try to split the Silencers up as much as you can."

"Yes, sir." The new Preventers responded as they split up into their own separate groups. 

* * *

The Preventers had split up into their groups and had made their way over the tops of the hills within the Devils Backyard. Hiding behind the rocks they found the Silencers huddled together like scared animals. They moved slowly through the maze, each holding out their guns ready to shoot at anything in any direction, but little did they know of the planned trap that they were just walking into. They came to a three-way intersection in the Martian sand; the three teams watched them patiently like a praying mantis waiting for the right moment to grab its next meal. The intersection had spread outward like the bottom Y-section of a peace sign. They made the decision to go for the path down the middle of the forking paths. It was time to make the move. 

William (accompanied by Kaworu) in the Red Team picked up a small stone and chucked it down the left path of the Silencers. It ran down the slopes of the hills and crevices but it was loud enough to catch the attention of one Silencer. So much that one of them broke away from the group and went down the same the very path that William had tossed the stone. 

The Blue Team, consisting of Hikaru Yuy and Paul Marquise had done the exact same thing except it was for the right path of the Silencers. And the Silencer had bit into the bait, hook, line, and sinker. The plan was working. All that was left was just that one little Silencer that was going down the center path. The one in the Center path was left for the Gold Team, for Julia, Leto and Id.

* * *

For the Silencers, the trip within the Devils Backyard had been a grueling and hellish journey. All they saw in every direction were red rocks, all of them having the sharp heart beating within them coupled with the paranoia of what may come down those slopes. Each of them had tried to contain their fears from what they had learned through all the years of training to be Silencers. Unfortunately it wasn't so for all of them. As Angelina had made the decision the go forward in the three-way intersection, her teammates didn't exactly have any optimism about any of this. 

Ivan was truly high strung about this, he didn't even know who these people were. That was the most annoying part to him was the part of not knowing who his enemies were. At least when he fought the Preventers, he knew who they were and why he was fighting them. He didn't even know who attacked them. 

"We are the New Preventer_"_, one of them had said. 

But he always thought that the ones he defeated were all that Preventer had. Then again, thinking was never his strong suit, only killing and using brute strength. That was his profession in this field. 

He held onto his guns, his glance kept looking from the ground then quickly darting around the rocks. He wanted nothing more than to take his helmet off and swipe the sweat away from his face. The mixture of cold and hot sweats swirled like coffee and cream inside his helmet. He just wanted to holster his guns and wipe the sweat away, but he couldn't because he didn't want to give _them_ a chance at killing him. He simply allowed the sweats to roll down his face as he continued to carefully trek along the path. _I shouldn't be here. I should probably go back_. He turned his back for a moment to look behind him to see if any of his comrades were with him. There was only emptiness of the Devils Backyard, red sand, and rocks. 

The chance was open and William Maxwell took it.

Ivan suddenly felt a sharp rumbling and a great crash from behind him. He spun around with his fingers ready on the triggers getting ready to shoot at anything that was about to move. He was expecting a lone person to be standing there in the path like a challenging gunslinger in a Western novel. Only it was transfigured into shock when he saw a tidal wave of rocks coming down from the slopes, they blocked his way down that path. Immediately he turned to go the other way, but it was too late for another tidal wave of rocks blocked him in that direction. He felt trapped in that cage of rocks, nowhere to go, only up, and who knows what was up there. Fear and panic swirled everywhere inside him, he even forgot about the jetpack that he could use to get out. 

William Maxwell and Kaworu Nagisa came tromping around the edge of the rock pen that held Ivan Danko prisoner. 

"Feel trapped, my little rat?" William asked holding out his Cross-Punisher. "Amazing." He shook his head, "I have you trapped and I didn't even have to fire a shot. But this time, you're not going to run away. Silencer, you're charged with attempted murder of my father, you have the right to remain dead!"

William took the Cross-Punisher and aimed it down at the trapped Ivan. It was a good thing that he never saw Ivan's scared-shitless face, then he probably would have been a little softer when dealing with him. He aimed the long gattling end of the Cross-Punisher down into the pit that was formed by the falling rocks that were set up, but then something else intervened. A hand reached out and pulled down the aiming Cross-Punisher. William looked into the face of Kaworu Nagisa who was shaking his head at William. 

"Shouldn't we wait for the others before you do this?" He asked

"Whose side are you on?" William contended and then sneered, "Would you like to join them?" 

"I'm just saying that we should wait."

Ivan was rather surprised by what had just happened. Not only had he been captured, but captured by two kids. Were these the ones who were piloting the Gundams? If so, then Ivan felt less like a man than he ever did in his entire life. To be defeated by Children! The worst part of it was that one of them was a former comrade, a teammate whom Ivan had shared his life with. _Traitor!_ But wait…while the two children of them were arguing about the timing of capturing the Silencer, Ivan Danko saw his chance in the moment. He tightened his grip around his twin blasters and raised them to the arguing kids. He took aim and he was about to squeeze the trigger and kill the one that humiliated him along with the one who betrayed the Silencers.

Kaworu's red eyes would dart down into the ditch to make sure that Ivan didn't try anything. He knew that Ivan would always take the best advantage that would be available to him. He only saw Ivan standing there in the rocky rage in shock as to what happened but then his quick mind registered something. Ivan was about to shoot. Kaworu's hands reached out to Williams shoulders and shoved them down as he threw himself against the Martian rocks. 

"Down!" He said as he threw himself and William to the ground. 

Both of them felt the sharp and dull pains that the rocks had made in them. William didn't know what was going on or why it was happening at all. One moment he was just debating over the issue with the captured Silencer, the next he was shoving him down as if they were in a wrestling match. In the sudden spontaneity of the moment William had accidentally pulled the trigger of the gattling gun on his Cross-Punisher. As he fell to the rocky ground he heard the gun go off but he didn't know in which direction it would go. His mind was only focused on what was going on with Kaworu. He also heard a sound that could be only be described as sounding like something out of Star Trek, a phaser-like sound. When the bullets from the gattling stopped he looked to the side where Kaworu had gone face down into the dirt. 

"What the hell's wrong with you?" He asked as he got up onto his knees leaving the Cross-Punisher lying in the dirt and brushed off the Martian sand off of his clothes. He picked up his weapon and looked down at Kaworu, who got up with William.

"I was protecting you." He said, "He was about to kill you. He had his guns drawn."

"But look at him, he's just standing…" William paused as he looked down into the ditch to prove his point. Yet when he looked down what he found was completely unexpected. He found the body of the Silencer that was captured, dead. His body lying on his back with a multitude of bullet holes going in an upward direction from his waist to his shoulders. His blood spilling out onto his clothes and into the iron soaked soil around him, a deep red mixing with a sandy red. William made the immediate connection. He lost his grip on the Cross-Punisher, which fell into Kaworu's hands, and he fell onto his knees. His mind was trying to grasp what had happened, he killed someone…_he actually killed someone_. He suddenly felt sick and dropped to his knees, his arms clenched over his stomach as he began to gag into the rocks. 

Kaworu came up behind the sick William and patted his back. "Hang in there, William." He said softly

"It wasn't supposed to happen like this." William gagged

"It never is." Kaworu shared his sentiment. 

* * *

Over on the slope of the hill that led down into the right path, the Blue team (Hikaru and Paul) heard it in the distance. The repeating _tat-tat-tat_ noise, which could have only come from William Maxwell's gattling gun. They only looked in the distance for one second as they were hiding behind the rock formations on the top of the hill, while the Silencer below walked down into it. They watched as the Silencer was in their grasp, but the noise of the gattling brought his attention away and was starting to walk away. 

"Oh damn." Hikaru cursed, "We're going in."

She hopped out from behind the rocks and slid down the slope keeping her eyes on the Silencer. She brought out her beam saber and switched it on while it sent its blue glow across her cheeks as she charged into battle. She went forth just like Id had taught to her, desperate times call for desperate measures, and the plan wasn't going the way that they had hoped it would. 

Sliding behind her was her comrade and friend, Paul Marquise with his blue beam saber already out and charging down the hill after Hikaru. He felt charged with the adrenaline that was rushing through him. He felt even better with the fact that his friend and comrade, Hikaru Yuy was with him. 

They watched as the Silencer turned around and began firing his blasters at them. Hikaru only smirked when she realized that this was a great time to use her new toy that was given to her by Id "the Lion" Kushrinada, but it wasn't her beam saber. It was the thing that was clasped around her wrist. The beam from the gun that the Silencer drew was heading right for Hikaru but then it bounced away from her like a beach ball. The Silencer watched in absolute astonishment when his shot was deflected leaving a light blue elliptical wave around Hikaru. He looked as the ellipse shook like the surface of water when wind passes over it. That ellipse that enveloped Hikaru was the weapon that was designed by Id "the Lion" Kushrinada and Kazuki Peacecraft. It was in the simplest of terms a shield, a shield that uses the same types of ideas that power the beam saber as well as the beam rifle. Only it uses a different frequency that can repel energy. 

"Nice, huh?" Hikaru smiled as the ellipse faded away. 

The Silencer was stunned as if someone had knocked out all his responses in his body. His strong arms that once held up his twin blasters ready to kill his enemies had fallen to his sides. As he stood in shock, Paul and Hikaru drew closer with their beam sabers ready to fight if they needed to. But the Silencer was unresponsive, he didn't move, he didn't speak. He just stood there looking out from behind his helmet at what happened. 

Hikaru waved her hand in front of the T-shaped visor hoping that the person inside would acknowledge what was going on around him. Still nothing, the person behind that domed helmet said and did nothing. Hikaru only shrugged at this and turned around to Paul.

"I don't know what's wrong with him." She said

Anton Simeonov had watched what happened from behind his helmet. He saw the blast that was deflected away by that transparent blue ellipse. His logical mind was locked. He couldn't figure out how or even why this was happening. The shock froze him in place as the girl who deflected his shot came up and tried to take him out of the shock coma that he was in. Then he saw her turn away. Immediately he tried one last desperate move and raised his left arm and pointed it right at Hikaru's turned head. His focused eyes didn't even see what was going on around him. He only wanted to do his job. To follow his orders. 

Paul's eyes went wide with fear as he warned his friend, "Hikaru! Look out!" 

Hikaru spun around. The world around her seemed to be in slow motion, just like the effects that they do in movies when they want to capture action in frame by frame motion. In this speed and state of mind that Hikaru had become trapped in like a mousetrap she saw the blaster. Its barrel pointing right into her face standing ready to implode it and explode the back of her head across the Martian soil. She never saw into the eyes of her attacker and it was probably a good thing. If she did she would be looking into the wide frightened eyes of a madman, desperate for a solution. 

Hikaru didn't feel the actual motion in her body when she made her move. She only felt a twitch. A twitch that sent her beam saber flying against the attackers arm and in that frame-by-frame action moment she watched as her beam saber made a clean cut out of his arm. There wasn't even any blood for the sheer heat of her weapon had sealed his wound. The scream that Anton Simeonov made from the agony of loosing his left arm sounded distant, distorted, much like as if Hikaru had heard him screaming underwater. Hearing the Silencer scream had the world around her speed back up. She heard the screaming become louder and closer, yet even the voice sounded robotic as if no human vocal chords could make such a sound. 

"Damn you!" The Silencer cursed, "Damn all of you to hell!"

Hikaru couldn't respond everything was such a blur in that slowed down state of mind that she was in that she looked down at the beam saber as if it was a sword that she was trying to find blood to confirm what she had done. The only thing that confirmed her deed was the arm. The lifeless left arm that once belonged to the human calculator, Anton Simeonov. It lay against the Martian soil still gripping onto the blaster. 

"I…" Hikaru uttered with her throat dry as a bone, "I…"

She then watched as the Silencer cradled his left arm toward his stomach while he holstered his blaster and used his free arm to take off his helmet. She watched the helmet fall off and then saw the face of the one that had attacked Preventer. The one who helped the attempted slaughter of her father, but even with that fact far away and distant in her mind she still couldn't believe that she could take such action against another person. She deactivated her beam saber as she looked at her victim. She saw his face streamed with tears, eyes red, and his hair mussed from being inside the helmet. 

"My name is Anton Simeonov." He spat trying to contain the pain of his arm which stun like made, like a thousand bees and hornets stinging him at once. "I am a Silencer and I shall never surrender."

He took out the blaster again, but he didn't aim it at his attackers. He raised it to his own head. 

"_Don't!"_ Hikaru pleaded, but it was too late.

* * *

The noises that the Gold Team heard only lasted a couple of seconds, but it didn't matter. Their plan was well underway, they had surrounded the Silencer who had traveled down the straight path. She tried to stall time as Leto, Julia and Id surrounded her from all sides. She had her blasters ready to fire, but the new Preventers had their beam sabers out and ready to be used.

"Who are all of you?" She asked, her voice sounding robotic under her helmet.

"We're the New Preventers." Julia announced to her

"Hmm." Angelina smiled underneath her helmet; "I'll introduce myself. I'm Angelina Lestat of the Silencers. Remember this, when you send a Silencer the job gets done."

All of the Gold team saw it. They saw the pack that was on Angelina back. Leto knew what it could do, with is beam saber drawn out he reached down for the D-Ring. He tried to remember the directions that Id gave to him only a few hours ago. It's amazing how such simple information could be lost in the heat of battle. _Stay cool. Stay cool. Remember take the D-Ring and twist it…oh no…was it clockwise or counterclockwise? Clock…counter-clock. Clock…counter-clock. Damn it! Which is it…Stay cool, Star Fox._ He held the D-Ring in his hand as he watched the flames and the exhaust coming from the funnels that stuck out of the Silencers pack he desperately tried to remember. _Damn, I have to figure this out! My time is up! Clock or counter-clock? Time keeps marching forward._ The answer was instant.

"Clock." He said to himself as he twisted the D-ring and watched the green blade of his weapon made its dramatic turn downward. The boomerang was ready as Angelina took to the sky. "Here it comes!" Leto shouted as he threw the boomerang at the Silencer as if it were a Frisbee. 

The saber turned boomerang spun and spun, faster and faster in the air as it made its climb upwards. It didn't just become a piece of metal with a high-energy beam coming out of it. The object became a disk of green light, much like a regular run-of-the-mill flying saucer. It came within good distance of Angelina who had tried to escape from her captures by the use of the jetpack. She and the others always had it, but the problem was that it only had limited fuel and range. She saw the flying green disk and tried to shoot at it, but all her blasts were for nothing. They only bounced off of the disk. She felt panic seeing her end come too quickly, but the disk missed her. 

On the ground Leto had his left hand reached out to the sky where the disk and the Silencer were engaged in a deadly dance. With the control watch on his wrist he had the sheer will and concentration to control the beam boomerang. He had it at a good distance as Angelina was trying to escape with the little fuel and time she had. That was when he made his attack and went straight for the jetpack, he sliced the pack in half, but made sure that he didn't kill Angelina. Yet, the cut in the jetpack exploded and sent Angelina tumbling to the Martian soil below. Thank God for her it was only 20 or so feet to the ground, and to the sandy instead of the rocky ground at that. She landed like a bowling ball landing in sand, her impact sent up the Martian soil, and the Gold team celebrated in knowing that they had won their fight, except for Id. 

He couldn't explain it, he felt that there was something more to this, something hidden like a treasure that had been left behind that no one considered taking. He went over to where Angelina had landed, her legs were sprawled out, her hands had partially let go of the blasters, and her head landed on one of the rocks. To Id's surprise there was no blood, but he had to make sure of something. He reached down and ripped off the clasp that held her helmet in place and pulled it off like a sock off of a foot. Instantly he found Angelina attractive. Her brunet hair pulled to the back of her into a small bun. Her face seemed so innocent in such a sleeping state, but Id brought his concentration back to make sure that either she was dead or knocked out cold. He reached his hand down to her neck feeling how warm it was, but suddenly he felt…nothing. There was no pulse there. He then felt pity for the girl since she was cut down in what Id gathered to be the prime of her life. It's a shame that neither he nor the others in the New Preventer could reach her like the ones in the old office. With his hand still on her neck he felt a sudden bump, a fast one followed by another and another. Instantly the dark eyes of Angelina Lestat opened and she reached for Id's neck and got up to her feet.

"Alright, kiddies!" She shouted, "Either you let me go, or I blow his brains out!"

The celebration held by Leto and Julia stopped as they looked at what had turned into a hostage situation. Leto and Julia armed their sabers into their special positions of the beam boomerang and the beam bow. Julia already had her sights set on Angelina as the cannon began to charge. 

"Come one, kiddies." Angelina laughed, "You don't have the guts to kill one of your own kind."

"Look whose talking." Leto sassed, "Who kicked your ass back up there? We did. That was just a bitch slap. So don't push us."

Id giggled as Angelina's hand pressed against his throat, "You're in a no win situation. You have two choices. You can kill me and they will kill you or they will kill you right now. Some choice you have. Unless your willing to surrender."

"I don't think so." Angelina snarled into Id's ear as she pressed the barrel of the blaster deeper into the side of his head and tightened her grip on his throat. The whole situation seemed a little unreal to Angelina because in the past she would normally try to seduce people to get her way. Then again she never did like to loose, at least she never lost gracefully. This hostage situation that she grabbed onto was evidence of how she could never loose gracefully. Still, in her mind she was set upon completing the mission, and that was all that mattered. She didn't care if she had to sleep with someone or kill someone, as long as the job gets done. 

"Even if we let you go, we will still find you." Julia pointed out, "So this has to be settled here and now."

"Come on, Girly-girl." Angelina pursed her lips to Julia; "You're just a big pussy, like most of Preventer. You should have heard them when they were screaming and begging for their lives." Angelina's voice sounded sadistic, it was unusual even for her that she would take such drastic measures, even with the skills that she has. 

"That's not true." Julia said her voice containing a small crack showing a sign to Angelina that she was loosing her nerve.

"Oh yeah." Angelina nodded with psychotically wide-open eyes and a smile exposing her teeth, "They were crying for their mommies like little pussies."

Julia pulled back harder on the drawstring of her beam bow. She remembered the control that was within the beam bow that Id told her before they left for the mission. It was the beam width control. It was located on the art where her left hand held it; it was only a thumb distance away. She carefully moved it and lowered the beam width from its widest setting to its narrowest. She kept her eyes targeted on Angelina's head that continued its psychotic laughter. 

Angelina continued her psychotic bragging, "Probably the biggest pussies were Heero Yuy and Johan Rodriguez."

That was the straw that broke Julia's nerve. She had a very high opinion of her father as well as Heero Yuy. She knew that they were all great fighters, Heero Yuy, Johan Rodriguez, and Wufei Chang. She knew this from all the training she did with Leto in all those months and summers she spent with them. Hearing that insult coming from that psychotic bitch was enough for Julia. The timing couldn't have been more perfect, the cannon was charged and her sights were set. She didn't hesitate as she let go of the D-ring. From the end of the beam bow, it sent out a very thin line that crossed the distance between herself and Angelina. 

Angelina didn't know anything had hit her, until she felt everything in her body collapse. She had let go of everything and slipped quietly into the darkness. This is how her world ended, not with a bang, but with a collapse. 

To be continued… 


	10. Epilogue

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Disclaimer: I do not own the copyrights to Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, G-Gundam, any movies or any songs that are used in this story. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.

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Notice to Readers: To understand certain parts of this story, you'll have to read the other stories before this one. It is recommended by not required. 

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Mobile Suit Gundam Wing:

Children of the Gundam

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Epilogue

*

The fight was over. 

All of the new Preventers had met up together in that middle path of the Devil's Backyard on the red planet Mars. They each told each other about what happened in how all of the deaths of the Silencers. One was an accident, one was a suicide, and another was in a situation where there was no other choice. It was so odd, in the beginning of the mission; it seemed like a game for them. Then they had to fight the enemy face to face…it was no longer a game. 

The children…yes…the children, after all that's what they were when it was all boiled down to it. They were only kids, still in High School, no older than 15, and yet they seemed to handle what has happened to them in the past month very well with ideas of vengeance for their loved ones. Yet the events of the past day were a different matter. Most psychiatrists would call what the children were experiencing as PTSD or Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Funny thing about psychiatry, there's always a label for something that was wrong with a person. Whatever it was, the children were experiencing it…so much that many of them had to sit down in that path trying to cope with what they had done. Then something snapped in one of them. 

It was William Maxwell; he sat on a rock towards the mouth of the path where it met the other three in its rough intersection. His Cross-Punisher laying at his side while he looked down into the soil. His vision began to distort, his nose began to clog up, and the water poured from his eyes. He dipped his face into his hands and wept at what happened. As he wept, he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and a woman's voice.

"It's Ok." Hikaru told William, "You'll be alright." 

Hikaru hugged William as he began to weep into Hikaru's shirt and wrapped his arms around her waist. 

With all that's happened, the only one who wasn't phased by this was Kaworu Nagisa. He had seen death before, he had wept his tears, but for some reason he couldn't cry for his former comrades. It bothered him in a silent way, like how when someone makes a rude face and even though its trivial it still is bothering. There was one last thing that Kaworu had to do. He got up and went to Id the Lion who was sitting far away from the body of Angelina Lestat who when she died, died on her back and with her eyes open. Id had closed them and decided to look away from it. 

Kaworu approached, "Id?" he asked

"Yeah?" Id responded

"There's something I need to take care of. I'll be taking the Gundam Angel with me."

"What are you going to do?" Id asked

"There's one last enemy I have to face alone." He had explained, "The ones who were pulling the strings of the Silencers…the Dark Zodiac."

"Why do you have to face them alone?"

"They robbed me of my life." Kaworu said his face stern with a seriousness that Id had only seen in one other person...Heero Yuy. "I have to stop them."

"Alright." Id nodded. "Go."

"Take this." Kaworu said as he took his beam saber from his side and gave it to Id. "Hold onto this. I'll be back for it as soon as I finish this old business. I promise I'll come back." 

And off Kaworu went to pick up his Gundam ready to take care of his _old business. _It was strange that Id never questions Kaworu's loyalty, perhaps this run in with the Silencers has made him paranoid. Still in his heart Id did trust the kid, he took the self-detonation device and broke it in half. 

"Come back soon, kid." Id smiled 

* * *

Kaworu smiled as he headed back into space. He just wanted to seal one last wound in his heart that was caused by the Dark Zodiac. He had arrived at the asteroid that he had known for as long as he could remember. It was his home and those people that had died on Mars were his comrades. Even though his expression was buried he still had a few fond memories of them. Such as that one time that Angelina had tried to seduce him, even though Angelina didn't exactly sleep with Kaworu she did it just to tease him. Yet, it was the Dark Zodiac that he had a burning spot in his heart for. It was them that robbed him of his childhood and made him a slave. He had to have retribution. 

He opened a channel to the asteroid base. 

"Attention." He called out, "Attention, this is Kaworu Nagisa, formerly known as Kaworu Gavrich of the Silencers."

The response was instant, but it was on the audio channel, "Have you come back to serve us Kaworu?" An old voice asked

"No." Kaworu answered without hesitation, "I came back to make my statement and make my retribution before I can move on."

"What do you mean?"

"I had served you loyally for all my existence. When the time came to use it against people…I knew that what you were doing was wrong."

"It was for the good of bringing back the old Alliance."

"The plight of old men wanting to return to the past. That does not give you an excuse for what you robbed me of as well as my comrades who are now dead on Mars. So don't even bother trying to send out Mobile Dolls because I know that Angelina used up all of them."

No response from the Dark Zodiac

"Now that I have your attention. The death of Ivan, Anton, and Angelina was freedom compared to what you did. Even I am free, I know that I am no longer Kaworu Gavrich, I am Kaworu Nagisa. Despite my compassion for all living things, I know that this must be done. For my retribution, I will make sure that you shall not make anyone suffer like my comrades and I have."

Kaworu reached under his seat and pulled out a long black box that had switches on them. Each switch had a red light near them. Kaworu flipped all the switched to their up position, turning all the red lights on. Until there was just one last on at the end of the long box. A special one that had a red plastic cover over it, he flipped it open seeing a shinning transparent candy red button staring up at him with its glow coming from within it. 

"Good-bye." He whispered as he pressed the button.

His retribution was fulfilled as the asteroid crumbled from the outside in within a fiery explosion. 

* * *

A week later…

The children came back to the hospital on Colony L-1. There they saw their parents nearly healed up. Some of them still had a few casts on, but it was certainly better than the shape that they were in one month ago. Each child went to their parent weeping as if they were five-year-olds once again, except for a few of them who were just sad. 

For Johan and Haruka who slept side by side they watched their son and daughter come back in such shambles. 

"Miho." Johan said softly as he ran the fingers coming from his left case arm through Leto's hair, "What's wrong?"

"Dad." Leto shook his head, "We've done such horrible things."  
"I know, son." Johan said, "I've been briefed by both Id and Kazuki on what had happened on Mars. I know that it must be hard for you. First battles are always hard, but I'm proud of both of you."

"We all are." Haruka added, "All of us are proud of you. You had taken on a role that no normal teenager could do. It is a heavy burden to bear."

Duo heard the discussion a few beds down, "Yeah I agree." He said as his son hugged both his mother and his father, "You know son. I didn't want you to have the same experiences as I did as a kid growing up without a family. I wanted to protect you, but I knew that I couldn't protect you all the time. I think you've handled yourself well in what happened."

"You think so, dad?" William smiled

"Hey, would the God of Death lie to his son?" Duo smiled

"Thanks dad." William said as he hugged his father

All of the parents seemed to feel the same way about the situation.

A few more beds down Heero Yuy and his wife Relena marveled at how their daughter progressed. At least from Heero's point of view, his own daughter had become a Gundam pilot and he wasn't there to see it for himself. Yet he saw her in a different light hearing what Kazuki had to say, so much that some of it melted through his cold exterior that managed to come into a smile. 

"Good job, kiddo." He smiled as he outstretched his arms to hug his daughter, "Looks like our plans worked just right."

Relena on the other hand had a different opinion. She shook her head, "Hikaru Peacecraft Yuy. I am surprised at you for going off and becoming a Gundam pilot." He tone at first was scolding but then something changed in it and it became a voice of approval as she said, "But in the circumstances we were in, we needed brave people to stand up to the ones who broke the laws of Earth and Space. I'm proud of you, my daughter." 

The last few that came into the hospital wing were Kazuki Peacecraft and his Desbats, along with Id "the Lion" Kushrinada, his girl Birdy "The Mighty" Cephon, his sister Mariemea Kushrinada, and last of all, Kaworu Nagisa. 

Id, Mariemea, and Birdy came to the beds of Treize and Lady Une. 

"Mother, Father." Id smiled at both of them

"Id." Treize smiled thinly up at his son, "I want to tell you that you've done well in taking those kids under your wing and making them into shooting stars like their parents before them."

"I did what I had to father." Id said and turned his attention to his mother, "Mother. I didn't know if you heard me before, but I wanted to tell you something."

"Please." Lady Une said, "Come and sit. Tell me."

Id sat down in the hospital provided chair and spoke from his heart, "The last time I was here, I wanted to tell you that…I forgive you."

"Forgive me?"

"Yes." Id said finding it difficult to speak, "For what happened to me as a child. I forgive you for all that has happened in the past." His vision looked sharply downward but he then felt a hand on his shoulder, he looked up to his mothers' sweet face, "Son. It's all right. I love you as my own son, nothing in this universe will ever change that. It does not do anyone any good to dwell on the past for we all have to put the past behind us or it will haunt us for the rest of our lives."

Id had tears in his eyes as he hugged his own mother. He quickly dried them as he reached for Birdy's hand.

"Mother, Father." He got up and introduced, "I'd like you to meet…" he blushed for a moment, "My girlfriend, Birdy 'The Mighty' Cephon of the Red Sky Police Department."

Everyone spoke of what happened, then Hikaru told her parents about something odd that happened while she used her Gundam.

"What happened?" Relena asked

"It happened after I used my attack." Hikaru explained, "Then I found something that appeared on my right hand." She held up her fist and a crest appeared like a tattoo that was made out of special ink that could vanish and appear again. It had a glow around it like a halo of orange light. The tattoo on the top of Hikaru's hand was of a Phoenix with its wings spread out showing off its colors of red, yellow, and orange. Its head reaching up for Hikaru's knuckles and its tail feathers reaching down to her wrist, and then around its legs was a banner that read one thing:

_The Firebird_

"A crest." Heero said

"Yeah." Hikaru smiled, "It's just like yours."

"I had something similar happen to me." Paul explained as he brought up his fist. His crest appeared in a bluish-white halo, and in the center of it was his symbol. A lightning bolt, but instead of a complex crown like what Zechs had, this one was just simple with just one spire that had a star on top of it. In Paul's banner it read the nickname that was given as well as earned by him. 

__

The Lightning Prince

William Maxwell showed his crest to his father. It was just as simple as the others, as a matter of fact, it was a little like Hikaru's crest. It was of a black crow, with its wings spread out across the top of his hand, its head towards his knuckles, and its tail feathers spread out. The banner itself was just as simple.

__

The Crow

"What about yours?" Haruka asked her children

"Here's mine." Leto said proudly holding up his fist as his crest glowed with a halo of green. Inside it was the outline of a fox reaching out its paws up to a five-pointed star as if it was the treasure that the fox was seeking. Then his banner read proudly:

__

The Star Fox

"And here's mine." Julia smiled showing hers off like a new dress or a new necklace. Hers was about the simplest of all of them; it was just simply a long blue arrow that stretched across her hand diagonally where its arrowhead reached a star. Her crests banner was read very clearly.

__

The Star Arrow 

"Last of all, here's mine." Id said holding up his fist as his crest had a halo of red light and his had the head of a lion roaring outward at its prey. _The Lion,_ is what his crest read. 

Everyone was engaged in some kind of conversation about what happened in the past month, at least everyone except Kaworu Nagisa. He stood back and watched all the happy families being reunited. It brought warmth to his heart, a kind of warmth that he hadn't felt in a very, very long time. He tried to find a word for it in his mind, but there was only one word he could think of that could describe his feeling. Home. It felt like home to him. Even though the dictionary defines home as a place of origin or a family's place of residence. It was so much more than that, despite the fact that he had no family there. No one was related to him. Feeling and thinking about the fact that he had no family made him sad as he sat on an empty bunk in the hospital wing. 

In the commotion of parents, children, and old friends talking…more than one of the Preventers noticed the young boy sitting on the edge of the empty bed. The one who asked the question first was Quatre. 

"Excuse me." He called out to any of the children that heard him, and the one that heard him was Hikaru Yuy who turned her attention from her parents to Quatre.

"Who is that over there?" He asked 

Hikaru got up from her place; "I was just getting to that part of the story." She said as she went out and brought in Kaworu, "Everyone, this is Kaworu Nagisa." 

"Hello everyone." Kaworu smiled

Hikaru explained all of it, how Kaworu came to their company, once part of the Silencers but broke free of them and fought against them.

"Hmmm." Wufei turned up his bandaged nose at the young boy; "I don't trust traitors."

"You barely trust anybody, Wufei." Johan commented

"It is nice to meet all of you." Kaworu said, "But I should be going."

As Kaworu was about to leave, the concerned mothering instincts of Relena kicked in as she asked the young boy, "Where will you go?"

"I don't know." Kaworu answered, "I'll just go wherever the winds of change take me."

Heero smiled, "Sounds like me in the old days."

"Please, Kaworu." Hikaru begged holding onto Kaworu's arm, "We've been through so much together. You could at least stay with us for a while."

"I have no place to stay."

Quatre smiled, "Then stay at my place." He offered, "The Winner Family Mansion is more than enough, I'm sure you'll find it to your liking."

Kaworu smiled, "I think I'd like that."

"Then it's settled." 

"By the way." Johan changed the subject, "I think that this last attack has taught us all something. I think that Preventer is too clustered. Perhaps we should spread out our offices and bases all over the Earth and the Colonies. Plus we should hire more personnel."

"What about us, dad?" Leto asked, "And our suits?"

"Well, Miho." Johan shrugged, "Since you proclaimed yourselves to be Preventer officers, it seems only fair to hold onto them. Or at least until you feel that you can be a Gundam pilot at the proper age."

"Ok, dad." 

"I agree with Johan's ideas." Lady Une spoke up, "I'll speak to the government about our funding as well as our personnel."

"Once you get out of bed." Birdy Cephon suggested

Lady Une shook her finger at Birdy in a comical way, "You know, Id. I think that she'd make a fine wife."

Id could only blush as the others laughed in good fun. 

* * *

The kids had returned to school, but their month long time on Mars as the new Preventer was regarded as an excused absence. Though what happened on Mars in the Devil's Backyard was something of a secret in Preventer. So, naturally all of Earth and Space knows about it. Thus, the children were regarded as heroes at their school. Even Kaworu who had joined his comrades at their school and thus a new kid was a hero before anyone knew who he was. There were parties and speeches for two days solid. Even Kaworu who as a hero got a big welcome to the High School, he was automatically popular around the school with both the guys as just a "cool guy" and with the girls for being a "hot stud". Kaworu wasn't exactly used to this kind of attention, so it was good that it only lasted for two days. 

Then after things had calmed down just a tad, the Preventer Teens were back where they were just over a month ago, back to their usual lives. Yet, even with things back to certain normality they were still changed by the experiences. They knew the horrors of fighting in actual combat. They seemed a little silent about certain things because they didn't seem very important anymore compared to what they went through. The whole experience made them, perhaps into adults, or they were still in shock about the things that can happen in combat.

Then an all too familiar voice called out, "HI!"

They looked and found Mervin, that same freshman of thirteen, with oversized coke-bottle thick glasses. They were at such a thickness that they actually distorted the view of his unusually honey-brown eyes. They made his eyes even bigger than what they were. His walk was goofy as if his back was a stiff board and his legs were trying to compensate for it. His head was at a crooked angle as if his neck-bones didn't know what straight was. In the crook of his left arm was a messy stack of papers, notepads, and vanilla folders. 

"I heard you guys were actually in Preventer." He emphasized a lot on the word 'Preventer' as if it was the word of the day, "I also heard you got to pilot your own suits and even had your own beam weapons. What was it like? Was it cool?"

No one answered

"Well, never-mind." He said as he shuffled his papers like a dealer shuffling his cards, "I got some ideas for some new weapons, suits, and beam weapons."

William couldn't take it anymore. Perhaps it was just because he had put up with this kid for months or maybe it was his new perspective on combat. He rose out of his seat and grabbed Mervin by the sweater. 

"Listen to me." He said, his voice wasn't threatening at all, it was more like a smooth counseling voice, "Using those weapons in combat wasn't as cool or glamorous as you think. We saw people die right in front of us, at the hands of our weapons, and there was nothing we could do about it. Do you think that's cool? Watching someone die in front of you and seeing him look to you for help?"

Mervin didn't answer, his glasses slipped away revealing his true eyes as he looked up at The Crow, William Maxwell.

"It isn't, Mervin." William said softly, "Trust me, I know."

He let Mervin go who then gathered up his papers and left.

"Don't you think you were hard on him?" Leto asked

William shook his head, "No, believe me. If he was there with us, he'd be designing cars."

"What do you think happened to all of you up there?" Kaworu asked

"I think." Hikaru spoke out, "That while we were down here, we thought we were invincible we thought we could do anything because we were the Preventer Teens. Then we entered combat with mobile suits of our own. We found out that we're not invincible. Perhaps that's what's changed about us."

"Probably the worst part," Julia added, "Is that now that this is happened we can't go back to being carefree and careless teenagers."

"But then again." Kaworu made his point, "Why be so glum about it? We know that life is not infinite, we know that we're not invincible, and we know that life precious. So let's enjoy every minute that we have! I know that I will!" He rose out of his seat, reached into his bag and pulled out a stereo and tuned it to a hit music station. The smiles came back to their face as they had seen Kaworu's point as he began to move to the music and enjoy every single minute of it. 

"I guess your right." Hikaru smiled and then laughed, "I guess your right."

"I know I'm right." Kaworu smiled, "So get out of your seats and start moving!"

As they moved to the music they knew of the lessons that they had learned and also knew that they could make the better decisions for the future. For as Hallmark and corny as it may have sounded to the Preventer Teens, the children really are the future. 

The End…


End file.
